
Class _Fy ^ ^ 
Book J^y 

Copfyrigiit N" 



COPYRIGHT DliPOSrr. 




• ■■■■Bi 



W 



NAVAHO BLANKET OF SYMBOLIC DESIGN, MADE IN NEW MEXICO 
(In the Private Collection of George Wharton James.) 



A LITTLE JOURNEY 

TO SOME 

STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 
IN OUR SOUTHWESTERN LAND 

(NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA) 



FOR HOME AND SCHOOL 
INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER GRADES 



BY 

GEOPtGE WHARTON JAMES 



A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 






Copyright, 1911 

BY 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY. 



©CI.A289040_ 



PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION" 

These pages record the imaginary trip into this most fascinating 
portion of our wonderful country by a party of high school boys and 
girls, from Chicago, supposedly selected for the honor because of 
their scholastic faithfulness and attainments. While no such party 
ever made the trip exactly as described, all the scenes, all the events, 
all the chief incidents have occurred, at one time or another, in the 
author's experience. 

The publishers wish to claim all the responsibility for the 
changes that Avere necessary in the narrative as written by the 
author in order to make it conform to the above thought, as they 
felt that the suggestions of actual participation in the trip by the 
imaginary party of school bo3^s and girls would give it a charm and 
interest that otherwise could not be obtained. Hence, if this chauiro 
seems to bring the author's ego into undue prominence the pub- 
lishers desire to take this responsibility upon themselves and thus 
relieve Dr. James of any such charge. He wishes us also to state 
that he objected to this method of presenting the narrative, as it 
would make him responsible for certain anachronisms, which the 
"aware" will realize, as some of the ceremonials could not possibly 
occur in the order of time in which the following story places them. 
Deeming this a slight matter as compared with the advantages of 
presenting the narrative in this form we urged him to withdraw his 
objection, which he graciously did. 

It should also be stated that some of the matters herein treated 
have been more fully discussed in the author's larger works. Hence 
repetition has been in a measure unavoidable. To those who wish 
to study these interesting subjects more fully we have pleasure in 
referring to the author's list of books to be found on the last page 
herein. 

We feel sure that the results will fully justify our action and 
that the story as presented will give great delight to a large number 
of readers, even outside the school circle, throughout the United 
States. 

The Publishers. 

Chicago, 111., March 1, 1911. 



Chicago^ June 10, 1910. 
Miss Lucile Snowdrop, 

Bide-a-wee Cottage, 781 St. Charles Ave., 
Xew Orleans, La. 
My Dear Lucile: — 

I am going on a trip; a wonderful trip; one of the most won- 
derful trips, I am told, that can he bad in America within the 
boundaries of the United States. There are eight of us selected 
from the schools of our city who have stood highest during the past 
year in our scholarship, and our expenses are to be paid while we 
take this trip into Xew Mexico and Arizona to see the Petrified 
Forest, the Indians, the Grand Canyon, Meteor Mountain, the Cliff 
and Cave Dwellings, "The Land of the Standing Eocks," the Eoose- 
velt Dam and many other wonderful places and things, as well as 
the cities and towns of this scenic, historic and fascinating region. 

Of late years it has been the fashion for people who are not 
used to traveling to go on excursions with specially informed guides. 
These are called "personally conducted'' tours. Ours is to be a 
personally conducted party in more ways than one. Professor and 
Mrs. Marcus Young are to go with us as chaperons and to have^ 
practical charge of us, while the details of our trip are in the hands 
of Dr. George Wharton James, an Englishman who has been over 
thirty years in the United States. During this time he has made a 
special study of all the things we are going to see, has visited them 
many times, and has written a number of books about them. 

Just think of it. We shall not only see these wonderful, inter- 
esting and fascinating objects, but the man who can tell us about 
them will be right with us on the spot. 

I am going to keep a diary, telling of all our doings and sight- 
seeings and so are all the others of the party, and when we return 
to Chicago, whichever diary is deemed the best is going to be printed 
and made into a book. You may be sure I will send you a copy as 
soon as it is printed. 

This will be the next best thing to going and seeing the country 
for 5^ourself. All the same, I wish you were going along. Don't 
you? Your loving friend, 

Elizabeth Berwyn. 



Chicago, Jan. 10, 1911. 
My Dear Lucile : — 

How happy T am ! The committee of teachers has decided that 
my diary is the best account of our "greatest of great trips," and so 
the following printed pages are written by 

Your dearest and best friend, 

Elizabeth Berwyn. 



A Little Journey to Some Strange 

Places and Peoples 

in Our Southwestern Land 

(New Mexico and Arizona) 

THOSE who have read the little journeys to the 
different parts of our great country, and to 
various foreign countries, may be surprised at the 
statement that this little journey will take them to 
tlie most wonderful, stupendous and majestic scenes 
on the American Continent and amongst peoples 
whose lives, habits, social customs and religious cere- 
monies are more strange, interesting and fascinat- 
ing than those of any people on the face of the 
earth. 

Many of the sights we shall see will be novel and 
strange. Some of the places we shall visit are known 
to be of scenery the most grand, rugged and sub- 
lime in the explored world. Many of the customs of 
the peoples that we shall visit, and their religious 
ceremonies, are so strange and so entirely foreign to 
our conception of what human beings can do, that, 
did we not see them with our own eyes, they would 
scarcely be believable. No romance that was ever 
written by the most imaginative mind ever conceived 
such wonderful objects and strange peoples as we 

5 



6 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

are about to see. Yet the strangest thing of all is 
that all these places and peoples are to be found 
in the heart of our own United States. The Flag 
of the Free — our incomparable Stars and Stripes — 
floats over them just the same as it does over New 
England, the middle West, the North, the South, 
and all the states on the Pacific Ocean. These places 
and peoples are American. And it is because our 
teachers feel that every boy and girl in America 
should know all that can be known about the wonder- 
ful things that America possesses that we are now 
about to start on this little journey which we are 
assured will prove more interesting, funny and re- 
markable than any journey, big or little, we have 
ever yet taken. It is for this reason also that we 
are all required to keep diaries, so that the best one 
may be published for others to know exactly what we 
have seen. 

There are several ways of reaching this fasci- 
nating land, but there is one transcontinental line 
of railway that runs directly through the most 
interesting part of it. This is the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe Railway, commonly known as the 
Santa Fe, Now that we are to go, we are anxious 
to start as quickly as possible. So we board the 
^'California Limited" in the Dearborn Street Sta- 
tion, Chicago, with our tickets good for a trip 
through to Phoenix, Arizona, by way of the Grand 
Canyon, and giving us the privilege of '^ stop-over, " 
so that we can spend nine months if necessary 
in visiting the wonderful places and peoples that are 
before us. 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 7 

The hour of our departure arrives. The con- 
ductor cries *'A11 aboard!" gives the signal to the 
engineer, and, as we wave our Good-byes and watch 
the parting sakite of our friends, the monster engine 
begins to move, and our train, slowly at first, and 
then more rapidly, pulls out of the station, leaves 




FISHER'S PEAK AND TRINIDAD, COLO. 



the city, and is soon fairly on its way to the land 
of our dreams. 

Thirteen hours' ride and we are at Kansas City. 
Then we begin our rapid flight across Kansas, across 
the southeastern corner of Colorado, until we reach 
the town of Trinidad. Here, on our left, perched 
high above the city, is an interesting elevation called 



8 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

fisher's peak 

which begins to suggest to us some of the grandeur 
of this great western land. It is composed of pum- 
mice stone and other volcanic rock, known as lava 
float, clearly showing that at some time a great vol- 
cano must have been in eruption in this region, pour- 
ing out floods of molten lava, which overflowed the 
country adjacent to the peak. In fact, the indica- 
tions are that there have been three such separate 
and distinct lava flows. Where was the volcano? 
Where is it now ? And what kind of country was it 
at the time the volcano was in eruption? These are 
most interesting questions, and the answers that are 
given to us by the scientists are as marvelous and 
startling as a fairy tale. They say that in the far 
away early days what is now Fisher's Peak was a 
great depression, and that the volcano and surround- 
ing country were raised much above its level. It was 
owing to its being a valley that it received so large a 
deposit of lava at each of the three successive flows. 
Then, some time, in the long ages gone by, perhaps 
millions of years ago, fierce storms beat upon this 
volcano and all the surrounding country, and, little 
by little, the rocks were broken up and washed away 
until the high parts were reduced to a level with the 
valley. Then, as this reducing process — or ^^degra- 
dation" of the rocks, as the geologists call it — contin- 
ued, the valley, being protected by these sheets of 
lava, remained, while the rest of the country yielded 
to the slow forces of disintegration and was washed 
away, until, when the historic period arrived and 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 9 

man appeared upon the earth, this peak was found 
perched high up and isolated above the surrounding 
country, practically as we find it today. 

One of the most wonderful lessons taught by 
geology is that to Almighty God ^^a thousand years 




SIMPSON'S REST, TRINIDAD, COLO. 

The monument on the topmost peak is erected over the body of the poet- 
scout 



are as one day" and that this world of ours has 
been hundreds of thousands of years in the making. 
Fisher's Peak received its name in 18-1:6, owing to 
the fact that Captain Fisher of the U. S. Army, with 
a party of soldiers, got lost here when they were 
on their way to Santa Fe in that year. There was 
no clearly defined trail over the Raton mountains at 
that time, and they were led in the wrong direction. 



10 • A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



SIMPSON ^S REST. 



To THE EIGHT, aboYG Trinidad, is another interesting 
pile of rocks several hundred feet above the city. 
This is the end of the great limestone plateau that 
extends northward. It is entirely different from the 
lava rocks of Fisher's Peak on the south. If one 
looks carefully he can see a small monument not far 
from the edge of the precipitous cliff. We are told 
that this is named ^^ Simpson's Rest" from an early 
day pioneer named Simpson. He was at one time pur- 
sued by a band of savages thirsting for his life. He 
managed to elude his pursuers and, when night came, 
clambered with great difficulty to the summit of this 
cliff and for greater security climbed to the top of the 
highest tree he could find. Here he sat shivering 
through the cold night, in constant dread lest his hid- 
ing-place should be discovered by the blood-thirsty 
Indians who were determined to slay him. Several 
times he dozed off to sleep and nearly fell from the 
tree. Suddenly he was awakened by the falling of 
rocks, and to his horror he heard voices which clearly 
showed that the Indians were on his trail. Lit by 
torches they came nearer and nearer until some of 
them stood directly under the branches of the tree 
where he was sitting. He felt sure he was discovered. 
Breathlessly he awaited the yell which would tell 
those scattered about on the plateau that the search 
was ended. Who can tell the delight that filled his 
heart when, instead of hearing a yell, he heard ex- 
pressions of disappointment. Finally, after a short 
pow-wow, the decision of the leader was given that it 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 11 

was useless to search further. Their expected victim 
had doubtless escaped aud he gave the command to 
return. 

Simi^son was so thankful for his escape that he 
vowed that when he died he would leave money 
enough to secure for himself a burial at the foot of 
the tree which had afforded him such a safe shelter 
and near which a monument should be erected to 
commemorate his almost miraculous escape. 

George Simpson was a poet, as well as a moun- 
taineer, and in the following beautiful lines tells the 
story of his escape and his desire to be buried in this 
sightly place. 



Lay me to rest on yon towering height, 
Where the silent cloud shadows glide, 

Where solitude holds its slumbering reign 
Far away from the human tide. 

I fain would sleep near the old pine tree 
That looks down on the valley below. 

Like a soldier guarding a comrade's grave, 
Or a sentinel watching the foe. 

'Twas a refuge once, in the by-gone time, 

When a pitiful fate was near. 
When my days were young and full of love 

For a life I held too dear. 

Thro' all the long years that have passed away 
Since that night of storm and dread, 

I've prayed that the boughs that sheltered me then 
flight wave over my dust when dead. 

Delve deep my grave in the stern gray rock: 

In its rigid embrace let me rest: 
With naught but my name on the stone at my head, 

iVnd the symbol of faith on my breast. 



12 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

One mourner, perhaps, may remember where sleeps, 
In his rock-boimd tomb the lone dead — 

May breathe for the loved one to heaven a prayer, 
A tear to his memory shed. 

Dr. James tells us that Fisher's Peak and Simp- 
son 's Rest typify the country upon which we are now 
about to enter. It is a land of marvelous rock scenery 
where gigantic mountains tower into the clear blue 
heavens of Western skies, and where tribes of In- 
dians live in their strange homes, where stranger 
social customs and most strange religious ceremonies 
are practiced and which it is to be our pleasure to 
witness. 

At Trinidad an extra engine is put onto our 
train for we have to climb for seventeen miles until 
we reach a tunnel bored through the heart of the 
Eaton Mountain. Just on this side of the tunnel is 
the state line between Colorado and New Mexico. 
About a mile before we reach the State line, there is 
a siding called Wootton. Just below the railroad 
track and about 7000 feet above the level of the sea 
is a charming little valley not much larger than a 
good sized New England garden, through which runs 
Raton Creek, a mountain stream fringed on each side 
with willows, aspen and cottonwood. Broken, rock- 
bound and ragged hills surround the little valley. 
Some are brown and bare ; others are covered with a 
thick growth of scrub-oak, pinion and mesquite, while 
here and there stand solitary pines, with an occasional 
grove of young trees springing into being. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 13 

UNCLE DICK WOOTTON. 

The chief interest, however, of this little valley cen- 
ters in the quaint old adobe house with a rude chimney 
of rocks built on the outside, in which the last days of 
one of the best known of the old trappers and pio- 
neers of the West were spent. He was known 
throughout the whole country as ^^ Uncle Dick Woot- 
ton," and it is from him that the little station gets its 
name. Except for a temporary blindness, which was 
relieved by a surgical operation, his old age was as 
rugged and healthful as had been his j^outh, and noth- 
ing delighted him more than to have an interested 
group of auditors around the big open fire-place to 
whom he could tell the story of his interesting and 
thrilling adventures. He was born in Mecklenburg 
County, Virginia, May 6th, 1816, and was christened 
^^Richens Lacy Wootton." It was when he became a 
frontiersman, less than nineteen years of age, that his 
companions changed his full christian name to 
^'Dick," and as such he was ever afterwards known. 
AYith his pipe in his mouth, his broad-brimmed som- 
brero on his head, his coat off, his legs crossed, and 
tilted back in his comfortable arm-chair by the fire- 
side. Uncle Dick was perfectly happy telling his 
stories of the past. From the published sketch of his 
life we learned a few of his adventures. Here is the 
way he begins his history : 

^^If yovi want to hear something about what an old 
hunter and trapper, who has been in this, country 
more than fifty years, has gone through, I reckon T 
can come as near telling you some things that will 



14 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

make your hair raise up and knock your hat off, as 
anybody that you will find, if you travel from one 
side of this broad land to the other. 

^'You might as well understand right now, how- 
ever, that I wasn't cut out for a smooth story-teller, 
and can't put on any flourishes." 

His active frontier life began in 1836. While still 
under nineteen years of age he undertook to drive 
twelve mules attached to a merchandise wagon which 
was going through from Independence, Mo., to Santa 
Fe, New Mexico. Those were the days of buffaloes 
and Indians on the plains, and Santa Fe was the 
capital of the territory that still belonged to Mexico. 

The first night he was required to stand guard 
over the wagon train he had rather an interesting 
and at the same time amusing experience. He says : 
''My instructions were to shoot anything that I saw 
moving outside the line of mules farthest out from 
the wagons. Nothing had happened so far on our trip 
to occasion any alarm or anxiety about our safety, 
and I didn't expect anything Avas going to happen 
that night. Still I didn't feel at all inclined to go to 
sleep, and kept a sharp lookout. About one o'clock 
at night I heard a slight noise, and could see some- 
thing moving about, sixty or seventy-five yards from 
where I was lying on the ground. I wasn't a coward, 
if I was a boy, and my hair didn't stand on end, al- 
though it may have raised up a little. Of course, the 
first thing I thought of was Indians, and the more I 
looked at the dark object creeping along toward the 
camp, the more it looked to me like a blood-thirsty 
savage. I didn't get excited, although afterwards 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 15 

they tried to make me believe I did, but thought tlie 
matter over and made up my mind that whatever the 
thing was, it had no business out there. So I bhized 
away at it and down it dropped. The shot roused 
everybody in the camp, and they all came running out 
with their guns in their hands to see what was up. 

^^I told them I had seen what I supposed was an 
Indian trying to slip into camp and had killed him. 
Very cautiously several of the men crept down to 
where the supposed dead Indian was lying. I stood 
at my post and listened for their report, and by and 
by I heard one of the men say, 'I'll be cussed if he 
hain't killed Old Jack.' 'Old Jack' was one of the 
lead mules. He had gotten loose and strayed outside 
the lines, and the result was that he met his death. 
I felt sorry about it, but the mule had disobeyed 
orders and I wasn't to blame for killing him." 

TRADING AVITH INDIANS. 

It was not long after he arrived in New Mexico be- 
fore he was sent at the head of a party of thirteen 
men on a trading expedition to the Sioux Indians. 
This is the way the business was conducted: ''We 
started out with ten wagons, loaded with beads and 
other trinkets, hunting knives, powder and bullets, 
blankets, and a few old guns. When we reached the 
trading country we would camp outside an Indian vil- 
lage and find out first whether they were in a trading 
humor. If they were we would send in a pack-mule 
or two, loaded with our wares, and establish head- 
quarters at the lodge of some friendly Indian. The 



16 A LITTLE JOURISrEY TO 

Indian at whose lodge we stopped was then author- 
ized to act as a guard to protect our goods from the 
thieves who were always hanging about to get some- 
thing without paying for it. 

^^We dressed the guard up in a military uniform, 
which we carried for the purpose, made him wear a 
stove-pipe hat with a red feather in it, put shoulder- 
straps on him and gave him a sword. 

^^I reckon you don't know what a lodge of the 
kind I speak of is. Well, I will tell you. It's an In- 
dian tent, made of white buffalo-skins ; that is, buf- 
falo-skins that have been dressed on both sides. Three 
poles are taken, about ten or fifteen feet long, and tied 
together at the top. Then they are spread apart at 
the bottom and set on the ground. The bufelo-skins 
are stretched around these poles, with short poles put 
in between so as to make the tent perfectly round. An 
opening is left at the top of the tent, through which 
the smoke from the fire inside passes out. At the top 
there are also a couple of wings, which can always be so 
arranged as to break the wind, and keep the smoke 
from being blown back into the tent. One of these 
tents is usually as large inside as a good sized room, 
and they're as comfortable as a house. The fire is 
built in the center of the tent, and at night a dozen 
Indians will sometimes lie down in one of them, 
sleeping in a circle with their feet to the fire. Gener- 
ally they sleep on bu:ffalo-robes and other undressed 
skins, but sometimes they have a kind of willow mat- 
tress, which makes about as nice a bed as a tired 
hunter ever stretched himself out on. 

*^ Their peltry was piled up inside the lodges, and 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 17 

when we had held a powwow with an Indian, and 
arranged to do business at his lodge, we unpacked our 
goods and trading commenced. It was all a matter 
of barter, and no money value was ever placed on any- 
thing. "We used to get i)retty good bargains in these 
trades with the Indians, although I suppose every- 
body understands that. 

^^ Their furs, buck-skins, robes and ponies were 
what we traded for. For a good butcher-knife they 
were generally willing to give us a buffalo-robe, and 
for a pound of powder, the gun-caps, and about sixty 
bullets to go with it, we could almost always get two 
robes. 

^^ Sometimes when they were disposed to drive 
hard bargains we had to give them two common 
butcher-knives for an extra good buffalo-robe, but 
even that left us a pretty fair profit. A good beaver- 
skin cost us about thirty cents in trade, and it took 
three bullets and three charges of powder to get a 
nicely- tanned buckskin." 

That one may understand somewhat the difficul- 
ties of living in this country in the early fifties, it is well 
to recall one of Uncle Dick Wootton's stories. In 1858 
he decided to try stock-raising about twenty miles from 
the site of the present town of Pueblo, Colorado. His 
wife and children, however, were in Taos, a distance 
of 165 miles away over the mountains. At this time 
the Indians were on the war-path and it was only 
with the greatest daring that a man would attempt to 
make this trip. Yet, several times Uncle Dick crossed 
the mountains, always aiming to keep clear of the 
trail rather than to follow it and ridina: hard all the 



18 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

time, sometimes without stopping an hour for sleep. 
On one occasion he made this trip in a little less than 
twenty-four hours, and though he came in sight of the 
Indians at several points along the way, it was only 
once that tliey saw him and fired upon him, though 
he managed to elude their vigilance and escape. 

THE RATON PASS 

It is to Uncle Dick Wootton that we owe the Raton 
Pass over the mountains. In his teaming through the 
country he often had occasion to hunt out new roads, 
and as far back as 1858 had discovered that this could 
be made into the best pass, if a satisfactory mountain 
road were built from Trinidad on the eastern side to 
the summit. Accordingly in 1865 he applied for a 
charter from the Colorado legislature authorizing 
him to construct a toll road from Trinidad to the New 
Mexico line and another charter from the New Mex- 
ico legislature covering the road from the New Mexico 
line to the Eed Eiver. Said he : 

'^What I proposed to do was to go into this wind- 
ing, rock-ribbed mountain pass and hew out a new 
road which, barring grades, should be as good as the 
average turnpike. I expected to keep this road in 
good repair, and charge toll for traveling over it, and 
thought I could see a good business ahead of me. 

^ * I had undertaken no light task. There were hill- 
sides to cut down, rocks to blast and remove, and 
bridges to build by the score. I built the road, how- 
ever, and made it a good one too. That was what 
brought the Santa Fe trail through this way, and as 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOrLES 19 

the same trail extended to Chihuahua in Mexico, my 
twenty-seven miles of turnpike constituted a portion 
of an international thoroughfare.'' 

THE CORPORAI/S GRAVE 

Just before entering the Eaton tunnel, a lonely grave 
may be seen. This is the grave of a Mexican corporal 
who was murdered near Uncle Dick Wootton's house 
in 1865. At this time the Indians were so trouble- 
some that all wagon-trains passing through to Santa 
Fe or California had to be escorted by soldiers from 
Fort Larned. On this occasion there w^ere about 150 
wagons escorted by a company mainly of Mexican sol- 
diers under the command of Captain Haley. There 
was a feud between some of the soldiers and the cor- 
poral, whose name was Juan Torres, and three of the 
men had vowed to kill liim. Uncle Dick says these 
four men came dow^n to his house one night and then 
left at an early hour. Says he : 

^^They had not been gone more than half an hour 
when I heard them talking, not far from my house, 
and a few seconds later I heard the half -suppressed 
cry of a man who had, I was satisfied, received his 
death blow. I had gone to bed and lay for a minute 
or two thinking whether I should get up and go out 
to the rescue of the man whose cry I had heard, or 
insure my own safety by remaining where I was. 

^'A little reflection convinced me that the mur- 
derers w^ere undoubtedly watching my house to pre- 
vent any interference with the carrying out of their 
plot, and that if I ventured out I should only en- 



20 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

danger mv own life, while there was scarcely any pos- 
sibility of my being able to save the life of the man 
who had been assailed. 

^^In the morning when I got up I found the dead 
body of the corporal stretched across Raton creek, not 
more than a hundred yards from my house. 

^^As I had surmised he had been struck with a 
heavy club or stone, and it was at that time I heard 
him cry out. After that his brains had been beaten 
out, and the body left where I found it. 

' ' I notified Captain Haley at once of the occurrence, 
and identified the men who had been in company with 
the corporal and who were undoubtedly his murder- 
ers. 

^^They were taken into custody and made a full 
confession, in which they stated that one of their 
number had stood at my door on the night of the 
murder to shoot me if I ventured out to assist the 
corporal. Two of the scoundrels were hanged after- 
wards at Las Vegas, and the third was sent to prison 
for life. The corporal was buried near where the sol- 
diers were encamped at the time of the tragedy." 

Entering the tunnel, we leave Colorado behind us, 
and are in the state of New Mexico, — created a state 
in the year of our visit, 1910, — and here, while we 
travel 2,678 feet, we are in midnight blackness. Then, 
as we emerge into the light, Eaton Canyon is before 
us, down the winding course of which we descend to 
Raton, and here begins our introduction to what sixty 
years or so ago was a part of Spanish America. No 
sooner had we left Raton than Dr. James told us the 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



21 



following interesting story, pointing out, as he did so, 
the mouth of the canyon where what he saw occurred. 
**It was at Raton, going on twenty-five years ago, 
that I had my first experience with that wonderful 
fanaticism known as the Penitentes. It was Easter 
time and I had been staying at Raton for a week or 




PENITENTE MORADA AND CROSSES 



two, part of the time wandering over the mountains 
and surrounding country with one of those rather 
interesting characters sometimes met with upon the 
frontier, who knows everybody, and whom everybody 
knows, w^ho goes where white men, as a rule, dare not 
go, and does naturally the many things that white 
men never think of doing. We had become great 



22 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

chums and it seemed to be his delight to find new and 
interesting things for me to see. 

^^One morning he came in in a state of great ex- 
citement, and, lialf in anger at his own f orgetf ulness, 
he jerked out an oath and poured fortli a fervid 
stream of statements to the effect that it was Easter 
time when tlie Penitente Brotliers would be engaged 
in their wonderful ceremonials. The upshot of it was 
that we got horses and rode down to the canyon three 
or four miles south of town and were soon perched 
upon a hillside looking down upon the little Mexican 
jacal from which the penetrating tones of a flute or 
flageolet wailed forth its dolorous notes. Following 
the flute we heard the singing of one or two hymns in 
rude uncultivated voices of men. This was the sacred 
morada of the Penitentes. 

^^In a short time several of the Penitente Brothers 
emerged. Each votary had a mask or hood over his 
head which completely concealed his face and ex- 
cluded all possibility of recognition, even by his most 
intimate friends. The upper part of the body was en- 
tirely nude, the feet were bare, and the only garment 
worn was a pair of cotton drawers. Each man lield 
in his hand a scourge — a three-foot-long whip, with 
a flap-like end, having the shape and appearance of 
a flexible spoon. This was made of yucca and cactus, 
and the sx)oon-shaped end was a large leaf of the 
prickly pear, one of the most thorny of the cruel 
cactuses of the southwest. The whole scourge was 
filled with the spines of cactuses, and no sooner did 
the procession form and move forward, each hooded 
figure guided by a friend, than, to our utter amaze- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 23 

ment and horror, these cruel scourges were whirled 
over the shoulders and brought down with resound- 
ing Hhwacks' u]3on the bare backs of those religious 
fanatics. Every third step the back was beaten, and 
now and again we could hear the half -smothered 
shriek of the self-whipper as the piercing thorns 
penetrated the flesh. It was not long before the 
blood ran in tiny streams down their backs and the 
white drawers were stained crimson. But nothing 
daunted the fanatic fury of this band. On they 
marched, led by the fifer, the pitero, playing on his 
pito a most doleful air, accompanied by the equally 
dolorous singing of the Hermano Mayor, or Principal 
Brother. 

Several hundred yards up the canyon a large 
cross was standing, and the whipping continued each 
third step until this cross was reached. Then the 
flagellant es threw themselves face downwards, pros- 
trate before the cross, and lay there for some time, 
while prayers were offered by the Hermano INFayor. 
Rising, the cross w^as marched around, and then 
the procession returned in like manner to the 
mo7rida. 

That afternoon, about three o'clock, another pro- 
cession formed with five of the brothers whipping 
themselves. This time there were several women 
following in the procession. It almost made one sick 
to hear the swish of those fearful cactus wliips 
whirled over the shoulders and the dull spat as they 
came down thwack on the back of the fanatical 
victims. 

There was one of the brothers, however, wlio 



24 



A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 



marched along for twenty or thirty steps and at each 
swing of his whip, though he appeared as if about to 
strilve himself w^ith vigor, he so twisted and turned 
that his body dodged the prickly whip. There were 
several spectators near me and some of them spoke 
out in derision : ' ' Look at that fellow. He is dodging. 
He is not whipping his sins out.'' Then to my amaze- 




PENITENTE FLAGELLANTES AND CROSS BEARERS 



ment, one of the Hermanos de Liiz (brothers of light) 
or guides, seized the wdiip, and, calling upon another 
of the brothers of light to guide the cowardly mem- 
ber of the fraternity, he proceeded to bring the whip 
down with a resounding thwack upon the bare back 
of the pilgrim. At every stroke the blood spattered 
out on each side and when the procession was over 
I picked up a number of pieces of wood and leaves. 



SOME STRAXGE PLxYCES AND PEOPLES 25 

etc., which were splashed over with the sanguinary 
fluid. 

All this time the pitero was wailing out his pierc- 
ing tones, while the cracked voices of two or three of 
the men united in singing the hymn, ^My God and 
My Eedeemer.' 

The following day the procession with its flagel- 
lations was repeated, but in the afternoon there was 
a startling change. Outside the morada leaned three 
large and heavy rude crosses made of pine trees, on 
which the bark still remained. Three of the blind- 
folded brothers were led to these crosses and it 
seemed with considerable effort on the part of four 
or five of the attendant brothers of light each cross 
in turn was lifted upon the back of one of the pil- 
grims. Then, led by the Hermano and the pitero 
fifing and singing, and followed by a dozen or more 
women, the procession slowly started up the canyon. 
The poor wa^etches on whose shoulders the crosses had 
been placed staggered along with their awful bur- 
dens, evidently moving only by the exercise of the 
strongest wdll-pow^er, as the burden seemed heavy 
enough to have staggered several men. One of the 
poor victims at last staggered and fell with the cross 
crushing the upper part of his body. He must have 
fainted for he lay perfectly still for what seemed 
quite a little time while the procession halted, but 
not for a moment did the doleful w\ailing of the fife 
or the quavering of the singing cease. There was a 
brief consultation of some of the brothers of light 
and three of them stepped forward and raised the 
cross, wdiilst another gave the prostrate pilgrim sev- 



26 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

eral fierce and resounding tliwaclvs witli a cactus wliip, 
following his blows with several kicks at the pros- 
trate form. The poor wretch staggered to his feet 
and again the cross was put on his shoulders, and as 
he staggered forward, he was urged on his w^ay at 
about every other step with a vicious blow from the 
whip of his attendant brother of light. A little fur- 
ther on, one of the other cross-bearers fell, but he 
seemed to have more strength than the first one who 
had fallen, and soon regained his feet. It seemed 
a pitiably long time before that strangely solemn yet 
patheticall}^ hideous procession reached the little 
knoll where holes already had been dug for the stand- 
ing up of the crosses. This knoll or hillock is called 
El Calvano—The Calvary. 

Here other ceremonies were gone through, and 
that evening in the little church in town there was a 
graphic and dramatic representation of the events 
that followed the Crucifixion — the darkness, the rend- 
ing of the Veil of the Temple, the earthquake, the 
arising of the dead from their tombs, etc. 

These things transpire every year in quite a num- 
ber of the Mexican communities of New Mexico, Ari- 
zona and Southern Colorado. The Encyclopedia 
Britannica declares that the last procession of peni- 
tentes or flagellantes took place in Lisbon, Spain, in 
1820. But in this, as in other things, authorities are 
not always sure of the facts they state. It would make 
no difference if a thousand authoritative encyclope- 
dias all declared that self-flagellations were at an end, 
in view of w^hat the eyes of living men and women 
of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have seen 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 27 

in Arizona and New Mexico. I have since seen this 
performance, with sliglit variations, at fonr different 
settlements. 

And yet, even in Arizona and New Mexico, good 
Catholics will tell you that the penitentes no longer 
exist, for the Archbishop has promulgated certain de- 
crees against it which render its ceremonies impos- 
sible. But even this makes no difference to the facts, 
which are, that the penitentes exist and still conduct 
their woefully piteous ceremonies in the belief that 
thereby they are partaking of the sufferings of Christ 
and that they thus render themselves partakers of 
his ultimate glory. 

Again and again I have said to these flagellants, 
^^But how can you be a good Catholic and a penitent e, 
when the Archbishop has forbidden it?" The reply 
has invariably been : ^ ^ It is nothing to me w^hat he for- 
bids. I don't care whether I am a Catholic or not. 
I am a penitente/' This last declaration is made wnth 
a self-conscious air of pride and superiority that de- 
notes that the last word has been said. To be a peni- 
tente is to be above anything and everything that such 
an one could desire. 

At the same time it cannot be denied that the in- 
fluence of the church is gradually reducing the num- 
ber of members of this order and doing away with 
many of its hideous celebrations. Quietly but firmly 
the priests are extending their influence and one by 
one the hillside mora das are falling into ruins. 

It is hard to tell just how the order of penitentes 
came into existence in Arizona and New Mexico in 
its present form. For while it undoubtedly was 



28 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

brought into this region by the Spanish Conquista- 
dores some three hundred years ago, it is scareel}^ to 
be believed that they brought it in its now existent 
form. Wliile many a monk and nun liad practiced 
self-flagellation in Europe, and even the sweet- 
spirited Saint Anthony of Padua, soon after the dawn 
of the thirteenth century, had founded a fraternity, 
which regarded the use of the rod and whip in public 
penance as part of its discipline, such practices had 
long been frowned upon by the church authorities. 

It is well known that there was a ^^ third order" of 
Franciscans, for as late as 1793 we are told Spanish 
letters often referred to it as '^La Cofradia del terces 
orden de Franciscanos, " — the brotherhood of the 
third order of Franciscans. 

It is more than possible that the existence of the 
penitentes in their present form is owing to certain 
customs that the Mexicans found to exist among the 
Pueblo Indians and which prevailed from time im- 
memorial. Each pueblo has had its professional peni- 
tentes called caciques who, at certain periods of the 
year, retired to solitude and completely fasted, spend- 
ing their days and nights in prayer interceding with 
^^ Those Above" for the forgiveness of the sins of the 
people. Every pueblo has its stories, more or less 
legendary, perhaps, about the self-abnegation and 
self-sacrificing spirit of these noble men. They are 
looked u]D to and revered by the Indians as are few 
white men in any position. 

In the olden time, some of these caciques used to 
do penance. Tradition has it that one tribe received 
its name, Poo-ya-tye, from the fact that the caciques 



SOME STEAXGE TEACES AND PEOPLES 29 

pricked themselves in penitential punishment with 
the poo-ya, or fierce thorn of the cactus. 

It is possible that here we have the secret of the 
growth of the ceremonies of the Mexican penitente. 
He has combined the idea of the third order of St. 
Francis with the flagellant and self-sacrificing Indian 
caciques, and with the fervor of an untutored fanatic, 
the thing grew to the proportions in which it w^as 
found, until the severe penalties of the church, and 
more potent still, the increasing influx of disapprov- 
ing white men and women of the new civilization, 
have either compelled its abolishment, or its retire- 
ment to the complete secrecy of hidden recesses in 
remote mountains or canyons." 

As Dr. James concluded his story we all felt that 
we were indeed in a wonderful land, if such cere- 
monies as these were still permitted. It merely goes 
to prove the truth of the old saying: ^^One half the 
people never know^ how the other half lives." 

THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL 

But our minds were not allowed to dwell very long 
on these things. Our attention was called to the fact 
that we were journeying over what a few decades ago 
was called the Santa Fe Trail. 

It is a difficult matter for those who travel over 
the country in a Pullman car to realize that less than 
fifty years ago, all freight was taken over this country 
in ^^ prairie schooners" and passengers were con- 
veyed by the overland stage. We found on the train 
one of the oldest pioneers of New Mexico and he 



30 A LITTLE JOUKNEY TO 

kindly gave us this interesting description of the way 
he used to haul freight over the plains and moun- 
tains : 

'^To begin with then, I had thirty-six wagons, and 
to each of these Avagons were hitched five pairs of 
oxen. This made ten head of cattle to each wagon, 
and three hundred and sixty in all. In addition to 
these, I drove along with the train, a pretty large 
herd of cattle, upon which I could draw to fill out the 
teams in case any of the oxen were killed or injured 
in any way, or as frequently happened, got sore- 
footed. Altogether it took over four hundred cattle 
to keep up the train, and when the teams were hitched 
and stood ready to start, we had a procession nearly 
a mile long. 

^^Our wagons were what we called ^prairie 
schooners.' They were strong, heavy wagons, with 
long high beds, and would carry loads three or four 
times as big as can be carried on the ordinary farm 
and road wagons in use now. 

^^It took forty men to manage the train. There 

was one driver to each wagon, and then the wagon- 

• masters, who had a general oversight of the train, 

and the herders who took charge of the stock when 

we went into caijip, brought the number up to forty. 

*^In addition to the freight wagons we always had 
an ambulance in which we carried some of our pro- 
visions, and had room for a teamster or any one else 
traveling with the train, who ndght happen to get 
sick along the road. Sometimes we would carry two 
or three passengers in the ambulance. 

''The men were divided into parties of ten eacli. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 31 

wliicli we called a 'mess/ and each 'mess' was fur- 
nished with a camp-outfit for cooking purposes. 
Then each 'mess' selected a cook, who was also a 
teamster, but got extra pay, and was relieved of 
guard duty and certain kinds of work which the 
others had to do. 

"When we selected a camping-place and got ready 
to stop for the night, the wagons were driven up into 
two lines so as to form a pen or, as we call it, a corral. 
The tongues of the wagons were turned outside the 
corral, and the fore wheel of a wagon rested against 
the hind wheel of the one directly in front of it. 
Driving them up in this way left the cattle all out- 
side of the corral, and they were then unyoked and 
driven to water, after which they were watched by 
the herders, while they fed on the prairie grass, until 
they got ready to lie down for the night. That was 
what we called a camp-corral. What we called a 
'fighting corral/ which we formed when we were at- 
tacked, or likely to be attacked by the Indians, was 
made by turning the wagon tongues inside the circle 
of wagons. This brought the cattle all inside the cor- 
ral, and made it easy to protect them and keex3 them 
from stampeding. 

"We always started to drive early in the morn- 
ing. The cattle were driven inside the corral, yoked 
together, and hitched to the wagons in the order in 
which they were to start out, those which had been 
driven behind and had taken the dust of the train 
one day, going ahead the next. 

"As I had charge of the train, T was called the 
major domo, a term we borrowed from the Mexicans 



32 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

and always used. My two assistants were wagon- 
masters. My orders had to be obeyed by all my em- 
ployes as promptly and strictly as would the orders 
of the captain of a military company by the men 
under his command, and we moved with about the 
same precision as a military organization on the 
march. I had so many men on guard all the time at 
night, and one detail was relieved by another at regu- 
lar intervals. When the wagons were driven into 
line in the morning, each man took his place along- 
side his wagon, and then awaited the order to start. 
When the start was made, the wagons had to be kept 
up within a certain distance of each other, like sol- 
diers marching in single file. 

^'By observing these precautions and preserving 
perfect discipline among the men, I avoided having 
any stragglers to look after when we were surprised 
by the savages, and could always be prepared for a 
fight in a few minutes. 

^*We started from the camp in the morning with- 
out breakfast and drove until about ten o'clock, when 
we stopped to eat. Then we rested until two and 
sometimes three o'clock in the afternoon, while the 
cattle were grazing and getting water. 

*^In this way I always got over from fifteen to 
twenty miles a day, sixteen miles being an average 
day's travel. It usually took about four months to 
make the trip from Kansas City to Fort Union and 
return. 

^"Our wagons were not more than half -loaded as a 
rule when we were going east. About all there Avas 
to be hauled that way was the peltry taken in the 



SO:\[E STRAXGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 33 

mountains, and I generally aimed to l)uy u]) or trade 
for enough of this to enable me to make my expenses 
out of the profits which I could realize by selling in 
Kansas City. 

*' When \\c got ready to return from Kansas City, 
however, we ahvays had big loads. To put six or 
eight thousand pounds on a wagon was not loading 
unconnnonly heavy, and frequently we put as high as 
ten thousand pounds on a wagon. 

''^ye were paid then, for carrying goods through 
from Kansas City to Fort Union, eight dollars per 
hundred, so that a freight bill on a train-load of 
goods in those times amounted sometimes to many 
thousands of dollars." 

THE MAXW^ELL LAXD GRANT 

After leaving Raton we rode for a long time along 
sixty miles of the eastern edge of the IMaxwell Land 
Grant, a princely domain once owned by the Ameri- 
can Fur Company, but now controlled by a foreign 
syndicate. 

Lucien B. Maxwell from whom this grant was 
named was one of the most noted ''mountain men" of 
the early forties and fifties in Colorado and New 
Mexico. He was with General Fremont on one of his 
earlier expeditions when he followed the Arkansas 
River to its source. For a time he lived at Taos, the 
interesting pueblo that is the most northerly of all 
the pueblos of New ^lexico. Here he knew Kit Car- 
son, Fremont's chief scout, ^^ Uncle Dick Wootton" 
and other pioneers. 



34 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

Maxwell had several narrow escapes from the In- 
dians in his life. On one occasion he had left Taos 
to go up the Rio Grande to gather a band of horses 
for government service. ^^He had succeeded in get- 
ting something like a hundred horses, and was on his 
way back to Taos, when he struck the trail of a large 
band of Ute Indians. 

^^To avoid this band he turned down the Arkansas 
River, and went one hundred and fifty miles out of 
his way, intending to go over the mountains and come 
into Taos from the east. AYhether the same band of 
Utes that he had seen turned back and followed him, 
or whether it was another band which attacked him, 
is uncertain, but when he was within a few days' 
ride of Taos he had one of the bloodiest battles with 
these Indians that any of the mountain men ever had. 

^^ There were twelve men in the party, including 
Maxwell himself, and they had with them two chil- 
dren, whom he was taking from one of the upper Rio 
Grande settlements to their friends in Taos. 

' ' While they were taking their breakfast in camp 
one morning the Indians suddenly made their ap- 
pearance, and in less time than it takes to tell it they 
had stampeded and driven off the horses. While a 
portion of the band was stealing the horses, thirty 
or forty mounted warriors rode up and fired on Max- 
well and his party, killing one and mortally wound- 
ing another of his men. It happened that there was 
a small grove of trees not far from the camp, and 
hurriedly getting under cover of these trees they de- 
termined to fight as long as there was a man of them 
left. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 35 

^^In that position they defended themselves 
against the whole band of red-skins, until the latter 
tired of the fight and withdrew. Then they found 
themselves in a sorry plight. All but two of them 
had been wounded, some very seriously. 

^^They had no horses and they were a long way, 
not only from home, but from any white settlement. 
They could not stay where they were, however, and 
that night they set out under cover of darkness to 
walk to Taos." 

Traveling in this way by night, and hiding in day- 
light, without food, and suffering at the same time 
from hunger and numerous festering wounds, they 
reached a point about thirty miles east of Taos where 
they were met by a band of rescuers, of whom Uncle 
Dick Wootton was one. These latter had heard 
through a friendly Arapahoe Indian of the fight with 
the Utes, and though they knew that those who had 
escaped were making their way towards home under 
great difficulties, they had not expected to find them 
in so pitiable a condition. In describing this. Uncle 
Dick says: ^^Some had lost nearly all their clothing 
in crawling through the thick growths of underbrush, 
all had been so weakened by starvation that they 
could scarcely stand on their feet, and their undressed 
wounds were in a fearful condition. 

^^They had almost given up the struggle to reach 
home when we found them, and several of those wlio 
were the most seriously w^ounded were begging their 
more fortunate comrades to leave them to die where 
tliey were and take care of themselves. 

^^I shall never forget how the tears ran down the 



36 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

cheeks of these poor fellows when they caught sight 
of us and realized that they were saved, just when 
they were about to give up all hope. 

'^We dressed their wounds as well as we could 
and carried them to Taos, where with careful nursing 
they all recovered in time." 

LAS VEGAS (the MEADOWS) 

The first town of any size in New Mexico, after leav- 
ing Raton, is Las Vegas, originally founded in Feb- 
ruary, 1820. It was not parceled out to settlers, how- 
ever, until 1835, when it was formally known under 
the weighty name of the pueblo or town of ^ ' Nuestra 
Seiiora de los Dolores de Las Vegas" — Our Lady of 
Sorrows of the Meadows. The Mexican settlers were 
not anxious to push further east over the Buffalo 
Plains, where wild and hostile Indians roamed, so 
Las Vegas was practically the most eastern Mexican 
settlement. The Navaho Indians from the west, the 
Utes from the north, and the Comanches from the 
south and east raided the settlers, stealing their sheep 
and other live stock and not hesitating to take a life 
or a prisoner whenever it seemed to their advantage. 
The '^town" was practically a fortified settlement — a 
strong adobe fort — into which when an Indian alarm 
was raised, the Mexicans and their stock hastily re- 
treated, there to defend themselves until the danger 
was past. 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND TEOrLES 37 

KEAKXY TAKES POSSESSIOX FOR THE U. S. 

This very thing was clone by the settlers only a few 
(lays before Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, with his 
army of oeenpation, arrived on Augnst 14, 1846. War 
had been declared between the United States and 
Mexico, by President Polk, May 13, 1846, and Kearny 
had been ordered to invade New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia, with the object of seizing them for the United 
States. Kearny left Fort Leavenworth, on the Mis- 
souri Eiver, in June, Avith 1,558 men and sixteen 
pieces of artillery. 

As he neared Mexican territory Kearny sent Cap- 
tain Cooke, with a flag of truce, to bear a message to 
the Mexican governor, Armijo, stating that he was 
arriving for the purpose of taking possession of the 
country. On the 13th of August Armijo replied to 
Kearny as follows: ^^You have notified me that you 
intend to take possession of the country I govern. 
The peo]3le of the country have risen en masse in my 
defense. If you take the country, it will be because 
you are the strongest in battle. I suggest to you that 
you stoj) at the Sapello, and I will march to the Vegas. 
AVe will meet and negotiate on the plains between 
them." 

On the morning of the 15th three officers arrived 
from Fort Leavenworth, bringing to Colonel Kearny 
liis commission as Lieutenant-General, and almost 
before he had had time to realize the new honor given 
to him. General Kearny marched into Las Vegas, 
where he was met by the Alcalde, Don Juan de Dios 
Maes, climbed to the to]:) of an adobe house over- 



38 



A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 



looking the plaza, and there made a speech declaring 
himself Governor of New Mexico and in due posses- 
sion of the country. 

At the same time the rumor was prevalent that 
Governor Armijo, with six thousand Mexicans, was 
waiting within two miles of Las Vegas to meet 




BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF LAS VEGAS, N. M. 



Kearny and his army. The fact was Armijo realized 
the hopelessness of his attempting to fight Kearny 
and merely made a pretence of obstructing the Amer- 
ican 's march, and, before the latter reached Santa 
Fe — then the capital of the country, even as it is now 
of the new state of New Mexico — he had fled and left 
Kearny in peaceable possession. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 39 

LAS VEGAS TODAY 

Las Vegas is the county seat of San Miguel County. 
It occupies the west side of the Eio Gallinas, while 
East Las Vegas, also an incorporated city, occupies 
the east side. Owning a land grant of 437,000 acres, 
given originally to the settlers. Las Vegas ought to 
become a remarkable city in that the income from 
this grant should not only pay all its taxes, but give it 
an income for the improvement of the city in a 
variety of w^ays. Students of civic government will 
undoubtedly watch the growth of this city with great 
interest. 

Las Vegas is a progressive town, but naturally 
when compared with the large cities of the East it is 
small. Yet it already has some fine business and 
other buildings, notably the New Mexico Normal 
University and the Carnegie Library. In East Las 
Vegas the Castle High School is a fine building that 
would be an 'honor to any city. 

LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS 

We were taken out on the electric railway to the 
Montezuma Hotel, six miles away, at Las Vegas Hot 
Springs. This is a magnificent building built of red 
sandstone and iron in the Queen Anne style, which 
stands in its own park of over 500 acres. The Santa 
Fe Railway Company has spent over a million dol- 
lars here to make one of the finest inland resorts on 
the American continent. There are hot springs which 
are equal to any in the world; the altitude, about 



40 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

6,500 feet, renders malaria impossible, and there are 
no pests such as fleas, mosquitoes, gnats or spiders. 

THE BUFFALO PLAINS 

Leayixg Las Vegas, as we looked back over the 
country we had crossed we could well understand 
and believe the wonderful stories told us of the days 
when the buffalo was king of these vast stretches of 
plain. 

It scarcely seems possible that there are men now 
living who can remember when buffalo were posi- 
tively numbered by millions, roaming in a wild state 
over all this vast territory as far east as the Missouri 
River. Yet many school-boys and girls have attended 
the ^^Wild West" shows of Buffalo Bill— Colonel 
W. F. Cody — Avho gained his title because he was 
such an expert hunter of these shaggy monarchs of 
the plains. 

It is a sad commentary upon the thoughtlessness 
and improvidence of the Americans that they have 
practically exterminated these noble creatures, so 
that now only a few are to be found, and they are 
kept in captivity and attended with the greatest care. 

With all his improvidence, the Indian would 
never have been guilty of such a course of procedure 
as that of the w^hite man in his treatment of the 
buffalo. Though he killed great quantities and dried 
in the sun, or jerked, the meat for winter use, he 
never killed them in a wanton manner. 

On our trip we talked with several old buffalo 
hunters. One of them told us that many a time 



SOME STKAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 41 

he had seen the Indians kill buffalo. ^^The Indians 
killed a ^reat many of these animals, but as a rule 
they only killed what they needed for food. The 
skin hunters were the fellows who were mainly 
responsible for the extermination of the buffalo. As 
long as they were killed only for the purpose of 
supplying the people on the frontier and the Indians 
with food, we could not notice that their number was 
decreasing; but when an army of men came into 
the country to kill them for the purpose of supplying 
the eastern market with robes, they didn't last long. 

^^I used to enjoy seeing the Indians hunt buffalo; 
that is, when the Indians were friendly and were 
not hunting white men at the same time. 

^'A large party of them would start out on horse- 
back, and when they had picked out a band of buffalo 
they would form a circle around the game and 
gradually close in on it. 

^^Then they started their horses on a run, bending 
their bows and adjusting their arrows as they neared 
the animals marked for the slaughter. 

^^They did not shoot until they ran alongside the 
game, and then their arrows were quite as effective 
as the bullets of the white hunters. The little Indian 
boys who followed the hunters took part in the 
chase and the buffalo calves were left for them to 
practice on." 

SCENIC HIGHWAY TO SAXTA FE 

Soox after leaving Las Vegas we entered the Glorieta 
mountains. Of these mountains it has truthfully 
been said that '^the landscape is oriental in aspect 



42 



A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 



and flushed with color. Nowhere else can you find 
sky of deeper blue, sunlight more dazzling, shadows 
more intense, clouds more luminously white, or stars 
that throb with redder fire. Here the pure rarefied 
air that is associated in the mind with arduous 
mountain climbing is the only air known — dry, cool 
and gently stimulating. Through it, as through a 




CONVICTS AT WORK CONSTRUCTING THE SCENIC HIGHWAY 
BETWEEN LAS VEGAS AND SANTA FE 



crystal, the rich red of the soil, the green of vegeta- 
tion, and the varied tints of the rocks gleam always 
freshly on the sight." 

We were borne over mountains above forests of 
pine and fir, with transient glimpses of distant 
prairie; through canyons where fierce rock walls 
yielded grudging passage and massive gray slopes 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 43 

bended downward from the sky; and we could pic- 
ture what a magnificent ride it would be in a fine 
stage-coach over these mountains, by the new road, 
the *^ Scenic Highway," which is now being con- 
structed by the convicts from the state prison, over 
the fifty-mile stretch between Las Vegas and 
Santa Fe. We are going to Santa Fe, but it is by 
railway to Lamy Junction, and thence up the wind- 
ing branch road that leads us to this ancient capital 
city. We should all have preferred going by stage ; 
and when we began to talk about the stage. Dr. James 
went out into the car ahead and brought to us an 
old man who proved to be one of the old-time over- 
land stage-drivers. He used to drive stage over these 
mountains long before the Santa Fe railway was 
built, and the story of his adventures was more 
romantic and fascinating than a novel. I wish I 
could reproduce the quaint way in which he recounted 
some of his adventures. We got him to show us on 
the map the route that used to be followed. 

The old Santa Fe Trail began at Independence, 
Missouri; passed through Westport, now a part of 
Kansas City; traversed the plains of Kansas in a 
direction a little south of west, until it reached the 
great bend of the Arkansas Elver. Then it ran close 
to the river until the present western boundary line of 
Kansas was crossed. It cut off a corner of Colorado, 
and then passed into New Mexico and on to Santa 
Fe, Fort Union being left several miles to one side. 
That was the line of the original Santa Fe Trail when 
the Arkansas River was crossed at Fort Dodge. It 
was changed later so that the Arkansas was crossed 



44 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

at Fort Bent, wliere La Junta now is, and passed 
through Trinidad and across the Eaton Mountains 
on about the line now traveled by the Santa Fe rail- 
way. The trail was 825 miles long, and 300 miles 
of it was very rough and rugged. The first five 
hundred miles were not so difficult, as the chief 
obstacles were the streams that had to be crossed, 
and the mudholes, which could generally be filled 
up with hay. It was different, however, in crossing 
the mountains. Said our informant: ^^ There the 
trail had to be hewn out of the steep hillsides; the 
ax had to be used to clear the trees and logs out of 
the canyons; and when the road-makers had done 
their best, travel was difficult and dangerous. 

^^In the winter the snows would frequently drift 
into the canj^ons and keep piling up until every trace 
of the trail was obliterated; and breaking a road 
through these deep snows was no easy matter. 

^ ' It took a man with a great deal of nerve to drive 
six broncos over the mountains when they had to 
break through these immense snow-drifts, and stage 
passengers needed to have about as much nerve as 
the driver. More dangerous drives than these, even, 
were those Avhich had to be made down the steep 
mountain-sides when they were covered Avith ice, 
and stopping between the crest and the base of the 
mountains was out of the question. Then, if the 
driver did not thoroughly understand his business; 
if lie did not have a steady head and a quick eye ; if 
he did not keep his reins well in hand, and make 
every turn at the proper time, there was certain to 
be trouble. Overturning a coach in such circum- 



SO:\rE STT^AXOE PLACES AXD PKOIM.ES 45 

stances was a freqiieiit occurrence, and sometimes 
these accidents were very serions ones. 

^^ Being cangiit in one of onr monntain snow- 
storms, when travelling became an impossiliility, and 
all that could be done was to sit shivering and freez- 
ing in the stage when it came to a stop, waiting for 
the storm to abate, was another trying experience for 
those who were so unfortunate as to have to travel 
in the winter time ; but being caught out in a summer 
hail- and thunder-storm was even worse." 

We asked him if he had ever had any adventures 
with Indians. ^Mnjuns?" he laughed. ^^Why, I've 
had more fun with Injuns than you could shake a 
stick at. Uncle Dick tells a story about Injuns. 
Here it is. I was the driver of that coach." 

^^ A west-bound stage came in sight one night just 
at dark, with as much as a hundred arrow-points 
and broken arrows sticking in the sides and running 
gear of the coach, and the passengers told a story, 
which is but a sample of scores of stories I have 
heard, as I sat by the fire with my guests on an 
evening when we had a lot of fresh arrivals. 

^^ There were five men, one woman and a child 
in the party that arrived in the battle-scarred stage, 
and they were all on their way to Santa Fe. 

^^In coming through the Comanche country they 
had a military escort most of the w^ay, but as they 
saw no Indians, the escort turned back, leaving tlie 
stage to go on its way alone. They w^ere making good 
time over a perfectly level country, and the stage 
driver was beginning to congratulate himself on 
having made another trip over the most dangerous 



46 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

portion of the old trail without having an Indian 
fight, when a passenger who sat beside him on the 
box called his attention to what looked like a large 
ant hill, not more than two hundred yards distant, 
near the roadside. 

^^ Scanning the little mound closely, the driver at 
once reached the conclusion that what he saw was an 
Indian covered up in the sand where he could see 
the roadway and give the signal for an attack on 
the stage at the proper time. That a band of Indians 
was concealed in the long grass and an ambush lay 
just ahead of him, he was certain ; and how to avoid 
it was the question. He dare not turn back, and 
turning out on either side might be to plunge into 
the very midst of the band of savages. 

^^He was not long in deciding what course he 
would pursue, because there was no time to lose. The 
man who sat beside him was informed that there 
were Indians ahead, and he was directed to swing 
himself into the coach and notify the other passen- 
gers. He did so without being told a second time; 
and the men gathered up their guns and held them at 
the coach windows, ready to fire the moment they 
caught sight of the Indians. Meantime, the driver, 
who was as brave a fellow as ever cracked a whip 
over a stage team, had tightened his hold on the reins, 
shook out his long whip-lash, and touching up his six 
broncos, just enough to put them on their mettle, 
held them in check so that they would appear to 
the Indians to be jogging along at the regulation 
pace, until he got ready to make his contemplated 
dash through the ambuscade. 



SO:\rE STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 47 

*^He waited until he got within forty yards of 
the sand-covered Indian, when he cracked his whip 
over the horses and uttered a series of yells which 
started them at once on a dead run. At the same 
moment the suspicious-looking sand-pile resolved 
itself into an Indian, who sprang to his feet and gave 
a war-whoop which brought a score or more of the 
Comanches up out of the grass where they had been 
lying on either side of the road. 

^'The driver's tactics had taken the Indians by 
surprise, and he was through the ambuscade before 
they could fairly bend their bows. The next moment, 
however, the arrows fell thick as hail-stones about the 
stage, and a rifle-ball cut a hole through the broad 
brim of the driver's hat. The passengers returned 
the fire, but with what effect they could not tell, as 
they were going at terrific speed, and the stage was 
rolling from side to side like a ship in a storm. 

^^They were soon out of reach of the arrows for 
the time being ; but within two hundred yards of the 
place where they ran into the ambuscade they caught 
sight of the Indians' horses, which had been hidden 
in a ravine, and they knew that pursuit was certain. 
Realizing that there was but one chance for him to 
save the lives of the passengers, and liis own as well, 
the stage-driver kept his broncos forging along at 
the top of their speed, hoping to reach the next stage- 
station, four miles away, before the Comanches 
should overtake them. It took the Indians some 
little time to get to their horses and mount them, 
and the stage had gotten a good start in the race; 
but before half the distance to the station had been 



48 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

covered, the arrows again commenced whistling past 
the driver and pelting the stage. 

^^Fortnnately, the men who were on the inside 
knew how to nse their guns, and although it was 
difficult to shoot with any degree of accuracy, on 
account of the rolling motion of the stage, they 
managed to hit one or two of the Indians, and that 
caused the redskins to fall back. Thev followed the 




BIRDS EYE VIEW OF SANTA FE FROM THE EAST MESA 

stage almost to the station, however, and were in 
sight of it when the panting, foaming and almost 
exhausted ponies dashed into the big stage barn, the 
doors of which were closed behind the coach-load of 
thoroughly frightened passengers. 

^^The stage-station was by no means well garri- 
soned, and would hardly have withstood much of a 



SOME STRANGE 1>LA(M^:S AX I) PEOPLES 49 

siege ; but the Indians knew well enough that there 
were a few determined men there, and tliev knew 
also that to make an assault on the station meant 
the killing of some of their number. For some time 
they hovered about, apparently waiting for the stage 
to resume its journey. Not until after nightfall, 
however, and some time after the Indians had been 
seen riding away in an opposite direction, did the 
plucky stage-driver assure his passengers that it was 
safe to start again on their trip to Santa Fe, to which 
place he carried them in due time without any more 
thrilling adventures. ' ' 

THE CITY OF SANTA FE 

Leaving the main line at Lamy (named after a 
former Archbishop of New Mexico), a short ride 
brought us to the ancient city of Santa Fe. It is one 
of the most interesting cities of the United States, 
yet it is not so old as some people imagine. The oldest 
town in New Mexico is San Gabriel, now Chameta, 
between the Chama River and the Rio Grande. It 
was founded in 1598 by Juan de Onate. Latei', in 
1605, the caj^ital was moved from San Gabriel to 
Santa Fe, and the history of the latter city practically 
begins from this date. 

There were two pueblos belonging to the Tanos 
Indians when the Spaniards arrived on this site, and 
several villages of Indians were found within a 
radius of ten or twelve miles. In 1617 there were 
only forty-eight colonists and soldiers in Santa Fe, 
and the Spanish population throughoTit the wliole 



50 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

country was necessarily very small. At first there 
seemed to be but little friction between the Indians 
and the newcomers; but in time the Spaniards 
became despotic and cruel, making exacting demands 
on the Indians, which were resented and in many 
cases refused. Then trouble began. 

The Catholic Church was very active throughout 
New Mexico during this first century of Spanish 
occupation, and in 1630 all the pueblos had formally 
received Christianity and were under the sway of 
the Franciscan padres ; and even as early as 1617 the 
records show that there were fourteen thousand 
Indians baptized, as many more ready for the rite, 
and eleven churches already built. These wonderful 
changes speedily antagonized the caciques and other 
religious leaders of the Indians, and, making the 
oppression of the Spaniards their theme, they were 
able to stir up considerable feeling against the new- 
comers. In Zuni, which we shall see later, two of the 
padres were murdered in 1630, and, in 1633, Padre 
Gutierez was poisoned by the Hopis. Another great 
source of discontent was found in the fact that the 
Spaniards did not protect the pueblo Indians from 
the cruel raids of the hostile nomad Indians, — the 
Apaches, Navahoes and Comanches, — as they had 
promised. 

It was in the earliest days of Santa Fe's occu- 
pancy that the Old Palace was built, now occupied 
as the State Museum of Archeology and by the School 
of American Archeology. The date of its construc- 
tion is variously set from 1598 to 1607. It was 
occupied by the Governors under the Spanish and 



SOME STEAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 



51 



Mexican regimes, and was used as the Executive 
Palace in territorial days. In this old building a 
room is shown in which General Lew Wallace, who 
was then Governor of New Mexico, finished the 
writing of his fascinating novel, *'Ben Hur." 

The Plaza itself has been the scene of many 
interesting and historic events. Here Juan de Ofiate 



aaj 


Klfnm??!?!!!! fa pn^^ 


^" 


i 
\ 

T 

1 ~ 


n 


jKkm 




1 ,j 


■|H||nHB'H|l 


1 1 iKiKHlHfi^H^lM 




iifP^Sj™ 


^^V 


Bi 


■■ 


^^^^g^^^^^^^^^ 



SANTA FE— THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE 



camped and set up the banner of Spain in 1598. 
Here the Indians imprisoned the Spaniards during 
their rebellion of 1680, and when the latter were 
driven away, it was in this square that all the 
archives, records, church- furniture and parapher- 
nalia were destroyed and burned by the exultant and 
triumphant Indians. On the other hand, it was here 
that these same Indians came in 1692 and humbled 



52 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

themselves before De Vargas when he reconquered 
the country for the Spaniards. To merely recite the 
historic events that have occurred in this plaza would 
occupy far more pages than are contained in this 
book. The last scene under Mexican control was 
w^hen General Kearny, in 1846, took formal posses- 
sion for the United States. 

SANTA FE, BOTH AXCIENT AND MODERN" 

It will be seen that Santa Fe, therefore, is both an 
ancient and modern city. Its present population is 
between nine and ten thousand, fully three-fourths 
of whom speak the Spanish language. Most of them 
also speak English. There are four Indian pueblos 
in Santa Fe County, namely : San Ildef onso, Tesuque, 
Nambe, and Pojoaque. The city occupies a most 
picturesque location in the heart of the Sangre de 
Cristo range of mountains, some of the peaks of 
which rise to a height of 12,500 feet within a com- 
paratively short distance. From one of these peaks 
flows the Santa Fe River, rising in two lakelets near 
the snow-line, and furnishing the city with sparkling 
water from melted snow. 

To the east lies the Pecos National Forest, of five 
hundred thousand acres, across which the Scenic 
Highway to Las Vegas, already referred to, is being 
built. 

AVithin a comparatively short distance from the 

city are some of the most interesting Indian ruins 

and cliif-dwellings in the country, and these were 

deemed of such importance that Ave spent several 

"days in visiting tliem, as Avill be later described. 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 53 

THE MODERN CITY 

There are a number of fine modern buildings in 
Santa Fe, as well as the older historic ones. The 
Women's Board of Trade is a i3retty building, and 




THE OLD SAN MIGUEL CHURCH, SANTA FE 



the Capitol, the Federal building, several of the 
churches, colleges, theaters, stores, etc., are equal to 
those found in any modern progressive city. 

One of the most interesting buildings is San 
Miguel church, built somewhere about the year 1600 
and destroyed in the rebellion of 1680. Its adobe 
walls, however, were so strong that they withstood 



54 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



the destroying fire so that they were used in the 
building when it Avas reconstructed in 1710. The 
attention of visitors is always called to the old bell 
in the rear of the auditorium, and also the altar 
painting, which is said to be very old. The adjoining 
cemetery is the oldest in the Southwest. 

Within half an hour's walk of the Plaza are the 





^ 


fesi*^^ " ■ :' ''" "WSIMF 


%-/-nmmm^^*^ 


:5"^'-' " ;^ %^ ■;-• y-^^^^SiSI^., 




""^' ^":^i&a 


hi: 



FEDERAL BUILDING, SANTA FE 



ruins of old Fort Marcy. These ruins are on a hill 
229 feet above the Plaza; and as there is a good 
wagon road to the top, it affords an agreeable drive, 
giving one a fine outlook over the city. 

There are two Indian schools in Santa Fe, one 
conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Sacrament, the 
other being a Government Industrial Training school. 
The latter has over four hundred pupils, representing 
over a score of tribes. We visited both these schools 
and were much surprised to find that the Indian 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 55 

students of corresponding ages were as well advanced 
in their studies as were the boys and girls of our own 
schools in Chicago. We had lunch at St. Catherine 
School, and were invited to dinner at the Govern- 
ment School, and it was with considerable interest 
that we sat down at the same table with some of the 
Indian bo3^s and girls, laughing, talking and joking 
with those whose jjarents so strenuously opposed the 
coming of the white man into their territory. 

Now that New Mexico has statehood, everybody 
with whom we came in contact expressed himself as 
certain that Santa Fe would progress with far greater 
rapidity than heretofore. Already much is being 
done to attract a larger citizenship, and it is expected 
that within the next decade Santa Fe will make more 
progress than it has done in the last hundred years. 

In the Museum we saw a wonderful collection of 
artifacts and curiosities gathered from the pueblo 
ruins found in great profusion some thirty miles 
from Santa Fe. 

TO THE PUEBLO RUINS 

We WERE fortunate in meeting Professor Edgar L. 
Hewett, who has had charge of the American School 
of Archeology in Santa Fe since its founding, and 
to whose intelligent direction the excavation of the 
ruins is largely owing. After full consultation of 
Professor Young and Dr. James with Professor 
Hewett, it was decided that these ruins were of suffi- 
cient interest to justify our visiting them. Naturally 
my account must be a very incomplete and inadequate 



56 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



one, and I can only refer to a few of the features 
that were particularly interesting to us. Automobiles 
were provided and we were soon whirling away over 
the mountains in a northwesterly direction from 
Santa Fe to the most extensive of the ancient ^^ Cliff 
cities" of the Southwest. It is known as Puye, and 




THE INDIAN PUEBLO OF TESUQUE, N. M. 



occupies an imposing situation on the Pajarito 
plateau. 

We passed through the pueblo of Tesuque, and 
finally reached that of Santa Clara ; but as each of 
these is very similar, in general appearance, to 
pueblos which we visited later, I shall not attempt 
to describe them here. 

Professor Hewett, however, told us a most inter- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



57 



estiiig stoiy of his '^pow-Avow" with the Indians of 
Santa Clara, who at first were bitterly opposed to 
any excavations taking place at Puye. He explained 
to them the purposes of the excavations, and finally 




CLIfF DWELLINGS AT PUYE, N. M. 



won their hearty acquiescence in the proposition, 
afte]' which they gave all the help they could to make 
them successful. 

We found the rock of Puye a mass of grayish- 
yellow tufa, about a mile long and varying in width 



58 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



from ninety to seven hundred feet. This tufa has 
been much worn during the ages by water and wind 
erosion, so that it especially lent itself to the making 
of the cliff dwellings, which are one of the distinctive 
features of these ancient settlements. 

There are two kinds of dwellings found here. The 




INDIAN PICTOGRAPHS, NEW MEXICO 



first type is a great quadrangle on the mesa top, an 
arrangement of four huge community houses, around 
a court, forming not only a capacious residence for 
a large population, but an eifective fortified citadel. 
The second type are at the base of the cliff, where 
there are three kinds of dwellings, namely : 1. Simple 
excavated caves. 2. Excavated caves with open rooms 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 59 

or porches built on in front. 3. Houses of stone, one 
to three stories high, and terraced, that rest upon 
the takis against the cliff. 

At first glimpse the face of the cliff in which 
these dwellings have been excavated appears as if 
burrowing animals had made large caves for them- 
selves beneath; while numberless holes and slots 
above suggest the presence of birds' nests to which 
these were the entrances. 

We spent quite a little time under Professor 
Hewett's intelligent direction trying to reconstruct 
in our minds this wonderful city. The little glimpse 
we had of the pueblos of Tesuque and Santa Clara 
had prepared us as to the general style of pueblo 
Indian architecture. We saw the excavations of a 
great number of rooms, and were particularly inter- 
ested in the hivas, or sacred ceremonial chambers 
where all the secret rites of these people were per- 
formed. We saw numbers of pictographs and sym- 
bolic decorations, and scores of stone implements; 
pottery in a more or less fragmentary condition, and 
other articles which revealed the state of culture to 
which these Indians had arrived. But after we had 
studied Puye, we were amazed to learn that this was 
but one of several scores of such ruins, of greater or 
lesser interest, all of which are connected by a net- 
work of trails; which clearly indicates that at one 
time this whole country was a mass of pueblo Indian 
villages in which dwelt an extensive population. We 
walked over trails that were so worn, in some places, 
as to be hip-deep in the solid rock, showing how 
many thousands of feet had passed over them in the 



60 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

time that liacl elapsed since the time when they were 
first laid out. Another interesting feature were the 
navas, or game-pit-traps, in which, as their name 
implies, the Indians caught their game. 

After spending a delightful day climbing until 
we were tired, and enjoying the wonderful views that 
were presented from the top of the Puye mesa, we 
returned to Santa Fe. On the return journey, Pro- 
fessor Hewett excited our interest in another group 
of ruins in and near the Rito cle Los Frijoles, esx)e- 
cially Avith his description of the Painted Cave, and 
the two carved mountain lions which stand in high 
relief above the bed-rock of the mesa. We begged 
so hard to be taken to see these that the next day 
we were taken out by way of the pueblo of Cochiti 
and thence to this treasure-land of historic wonders. 
If I had time and space I could well fill many pages 
in describing the wonderful and fascinating scenery 
that we saw on this trip. We people who live in the 
East have no conception of the entrancing character 
of these landscapes. We followed old trails and 
climbed over mesas which gave us pictures of super- 
nal beaut}^ The air was so clear and pure that it 
seemed to intoxicate us and take away all weariness. 

We visited the interesting ruins of Tyuonyi 
and then hastened to see the famous ^'Shrine of 
Mokatch." Here, among pinions and junipers, 
which have doubtless grown up since the shrine was 
established, we were shown a place that must be the 
American Stonehenge. Great slabs of rock standing 
on end made a rude enclosure in which we found 
the stone lions of our search. I shall not attempt 



SOME STEAXGE TLACES AXD PEOPLES 61 

to explain the meaning; of these lions in this place, 
as this will be f onncl in the description of the hnnting 
fetiches used by the Zuni Indians; but many of 
the fetiches of the Zunis are tiny little things that 
could easily be carried in a lady's purse, while these 
are life-size. They have suffered somewhat by the 
erosion of the centuries, yet they are still strikingly 
lifelike and real. The heads and shoulders have 
become almost indistinguishable, but the bodies and 
tails are still clear and distinct. The lions are in 
the crouching position always taken by these animals 
just before making their deadly spring. 

What made the ancient inhabitants of this region 
carve these creatures, it is not now easy to tell, but 
it undoubtedly had something to do with the chase ; 
for the mountain lion is the king of beasts of prey, 
and, as is explained about the Zuni fetiches, he is 
therefore the most important of all the objects to be 
consulted and propitiated when a hunter goes out 
after game. 

We Avere delighted to learn that plaster casts of 
these figures had been made by Professor Frederick 
Starr, of the Chicago University, which are to be 
found in the Walker Museum. We have since visited 
them with great pleasure. 

We did not visit the Painted Cave, as time would 
not allow, but we saw some interesting pictures which 
showTd us the pictograj^hs and strange Indian 
symbols painted upon its walls in red, white and 
black. 



62 A LITTLE JOUKNEY TO 

ALBUQUERQUE; THE COMMERCIAL CENTER OF 
NEW MEXICO 

Delighted beyond measure with what we had seen 
at Santa Fe, we left with a strange mixture of rekic- 
tance and impatience for Albuquerque. What a new 
world we were in ! Everything was so strange and 
romantic, and the scenery such a commingling of 




BIRD'S EYE VIEW ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 



picturesqueness and wildness — rugged grandeur com- 
peting with xDastoral serenity to attract our attention 
so that our minds were in a state of constant excita- 
tion at the varied scenic and historic marvels 
presented to us. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



63 



We found Albuquerque more like our eastern cities 
than any place we had yet visited, although its close 
proximity to the grand and majestic mountains gives 
it a distinctly western appearance. We were told 
that this is the most progressive town of New Mexico, 
and we could readily believe it. We were installed 
in beautiful rooms at the great Mission hotel, the 




THE ALVARADO MISSION HOTEL, ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 



Alvarado, which arrests the attention in the most 
striking fashion as soon as one leaves the train. It is 
a long, low building with rough gray walls, and 
arched colonnades. The roofs are of red tiles, and 
there are a number of quaint Mission towers remind- 
ing us of the Old Missions we had seen in California. 
Across the plains we saw the Sandia Mountains, 



84 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



wliich some of the Indians regard with great 
veneration as being the ''Sacred Turtle" of their 
mythology. 

After dinner at the Alvarado, served in Fred 
Harvey's inimitable style, we spent the rest of the 
evening in visiting the museum of Indian works of 
art, etc., gathered together in this unique building. 




COMMERCIAL CLUB, ALBUQUERQUE. N. M. 



It is a most ^^'onderf ul exhibition of Indian art-craft, 
and is a revelation to those who think of the Indian 
orly as a rude and ignorant savage. We watched 
Elle of Ganado, the most noted weaver of the Navaho 
tribe, making one of her wonderful blankets, and we 
were able to understand something of the marvelous 
ability shown by these weavers as we watched her 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 65 

six-year-old girl by her side do the same work. With 
instinctive genius, the little tot mentally constructs 
her own designs, and then, with a skill that could 
only have been acquired by centuries of heredity, she 
proceeds to weave the suggestions of her brain. Her 
blankets sell for a high j)riee, and are eagerly sought 
for by collectors, not only because they are the work 
of a child, but because of their intrinsic value as fine 
specimens of Navaho weaving. 

The next day we were taken around the city in 
automobiles by the president of the Commercial Club. 
We saw the wonderful lumber yard where hundreds 
of millions of feet of lumber were piled up, and 
when we saw the mills of the American Lumber Com- 
pany and other firms, employing between three and 
four thousand men, and capable of turning out over 
a half million feet of lumber a day, we did not wonder 
at the immense area stacked iii^ with lumber. We 
saw the largest wool-scouring plant in the West, 
where seven million pounds of wool are scoured 
annually, and numbers of manufacturing plants 
which clearly reveal that this western people do not 
intend to have all their manufacturing done in the 
East and pay tribute for it in the way of freight to 
the railroads. 

The population of the city is in the neighborhood 
of twenty-five thousand, and its fifty miles of streets 
are well bound together with a good electric street 
car system. Many of its buildings are architecturally 
striking, especially those of the ^'University Pueblo." 
These are the two new dormitories of the New Mexico 
University, and are peculiarly appropriate for this 



66 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

country, as they are built in imitation of pueblo 
houses. While they are furnished with steam heat, 
electric light and all modern conveniences, they have 
ancient Indian names, — the dormitory of the men 
being called Kwataka, meaning ''man-eagle," and 
the women's, Hokona, or ''maiden." These dormi- 




ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 



tories are built around an extensive plaza, and it is 
the ultimate intention to erect other buildings in the 
same style, so that when completed it will be one 
of the most unique collections of modern university 
buildings in the world. 

The altitude of Albuquerque is forty-nine hundred 
feet, and eighty-eight out of every hundred days 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 67 

present a sky that is perfectly cloudless. The average 
rainfall is eight inches, less than one-half that of 
Los Angeles, California. But though there is so 
slight a rainfall, there is abundance of water for 
irrigation secured from the nearby mountains and 
from the Rio Grande river, which flows close by. 

While the Albuquerque of today is practically a 
new town, being only twenty-five years old, its name 
comes down from the old Spanish days when the 
Duke of Albuquerque was one of the important 
factors in the Spanish rule of the new race. There 
is an ^^Old Albuquerque," and it is the county-seat 
of Bernalillo County. Though connected by street 
car with the modern city, and only ten minutes' ride 
away, it is not included in the city limits, but has 
its own independent organization. 

The old Spanish city of Atrisco used to be located 
on the other side of the river, but when the Santa Fe 
Railway was built, the old city was practically aban- 
doned when it was decided to locate a city on the 
eastern side of the river. 

THE INDIAN SCHOOL 

About a mile from the center of the city is the 
Government Indian School, with an enrollment of 
three hundred Indians, mostly Navahoes and Pueblos. 
The buildings stand within their own grounds, which 
comprise sixty acres, and there are shops for teaching 
plumbing, blacksmithing, carpentering, steam-fitting, 
and a number of other branches of industrial occupa- 
tions. The girls are taught housework and domestic 



68 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



science, including cooking and the cutting-out and 
making of their own clothes. The school has its own 
brass-band, and we were treated to a fine concert, as 
well as to an interesting drill by the students. 

Albuquerque is a great railroad center, for here 
the three main lines of the Santa Fe system meet, — 
that from the east, that from the west, and the 




U. S. INDIAN SCHOOL AT ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 

one that goes south to the Mexican line. We con- 
tinued our journey on the Pacific branch. 

THE PUEBLO OF ISLETA 

It seemed that scarcely had we left Albuquerque 
and crossed the Rio Grande than we reached the 
Indian village of Isleta. Here we were courteously 
greeted by Father Docher, a cultured French priest 
who has long been the trusted friend and adviser of 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



69 



tliese Indians. We spent a full day in visiting their 
homes, in seeing their beautiful orchards and fields, 
which they know how to irrigate to perfection and 
keep in first-class condition. 




THE PUEBLO OF ISLET A, N. M. 



A RABBIT HUNT 

Then, to our joy, a rabbit hunt was arranged for our 
especial pleasure, in the ancient style and with no 
other weapons than the old-fashioned ^^throwing- 
stick, ' ' which seems like an American representation 
of the Australian boomerang. It is a slightly curved, 
flat stick made of the gnarled and tough wood of the 
mesquite, pinion, or juniper, and about two feet long 
and an inch or an inch and a half broad. 

It happened that the rabbits were very plentiful 



70 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



at the time of our visit, and the Indians had about 
arranged for a hunt to take place. At the request 
of Father Docher they graciously consented to change 
their date so that we could witness the event. 

To the south and west of the town extends an 




PUEBLO INDIAN WITH THROWING STICK, READY FOR THE RABBIT 

HUNT 



expansive plain, and on this the ^^ round up" of the 
rabbits was to occur. It was late in the afternoon 
before we reached the spot from which we were to 
observe the hunt. AVe were on a slight elevation, 
which gave us a good view of the whole area. When 
everything was ready, the leader of the hunting party 
gave his instructions, and with considerable rapidity 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 71 

a line of men, youths and hoy^ was formed, stretching 
for a mile or more across the plain. Then the signal 
Avas given to advance. Knowing the habits of the 
rabbits, the hunters waited until late enough in the 
afternoon for the coming out of their prey to their 
evening meal. Now, steadily marching forward, but 
carefully watching, the actual ^^ round up" began. 
Each man held in his hand his throwing-stick ready 
for action at a moment's notice, and every once in a 
while w^e would see it leave his hand with a speed 
that was remarkable. Generally a shout of triumph 
follow^ed its flight, and in the distance we could see 
the game picked up and thrust under the belt of the 
himter. As the line of hunters approached nearer 
to where we stood we saw quite a number of rabbits 
fleeing in the peculiar zigzag fashion in which they try 
to escape. But now another line of hunters swooped 
down upon them from another angle, and many of 
the scared little creatures were speedily slain and 
picked up. The remarkable thing about the hunt 
was the accuracy of the aim of the hunters with 
their throwing-sticks. They seemed to be able to 
calculate the distance between themselves and their 
prey and the speed at which the latter were running, 
and while to us it seemed impossible to guess which 
way the little creatures would dart in their frantic 
efforts to escape, the Indians seemed to know 
instinctively, and seldom missed their aim. As a 
result, it was a triumphant party that returned to 
the village that night. 

Although we were tired on our return, we were 
almost as much interested in seeing the way the 



72 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

rabbits were prepared for food as we had been in 
seeing them hunted. We were told that the Pueblo 
Indians will never fry a rabbit nor eat any part 
of one that has thus been cooked. The only way 
they prepare them is, after skinning and drawing 
them, to take their long ears and fix them into a 
kind of knot on the top of the head ; then the hind 
legs are crossed and pinned behind the back, while 
the fore legs are twisted until the ankles lie snugly 
under the junction of the shoulder with the body. 
Thus prepared, they are either roasted in the open- 
air ovens, which I have described elsewhere, or 
stewed. Those that were brought to us were stewed 
in an underground oven. This oven was a plastered 
hole in the ground, protected by a little enclosure 
above ground, and with a stone slab which could be 
placed over the hole. A fire of wood was made in 
the hole, and when it was pretty well burned down, the 
jar in which the rabbit was placed, with a sufficiency 
of water to cook it, was lowered into the oven, the 
stone slab placed over it and plastered with mud so 
as to make it air-tight, and then left to cook. There is 
no denying that the dish was delicious, the gravy 
having been thickened by the addition of a little corn- 
meal which Ave had seen one of the girls grinding. 

Isleta is a most interesting pueblo. It was located 
here when the Spaniards reached the country, going 
on four hundred years ago, and how much earlier it 
is impossible to tell. It was here that Mr. Charles F. 
Lummis lived for four years. He has written several 
most interesting books about this country, all of 
which should find a place in every school library in 



SOME STKA^^GE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



73 



the United States, and the reading of which is far 
more fascinating than most romances. 



TO LAGUNA 



Although there were many more things we still 
would have liked to see at Isleta, we left the next 






THE PUEBLO OF LAGUNA, N. M. 



morning for Laguna, at which point Dr. James 
assured us we should enter upon the most fascinating 
portion of our trip. We questioned whether any- 
thing could be more attractive and fascinating than 
what we had already seen, but he shook his head, 



74 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

smiled, and bade us wait a while. On our arrival at 
Laguna we were most hospitably entertained, some 
of us in the home of Major George H. Pradt, and 
the others at the homes of the Marmon brothers, all 
of whom settled at Laguna many years ago, w^here 
they married Pueblo Indian wives and identified 
themselves with the people. They all have beautiful 
children who are well educated and who helped to 
make our visit most interesting, giving us many 
intimate glimpses of the home life of the people that 
otherwise we could not have obtained. 

Laguna is so named from the Laguna, or lake, 
which is simply a natural excavation in the solid 
sandstone upon which the little village is built. Not 
far away runs the Rio San Jose, the small stream 
being named for the patron saint of Laguna. The 
rock upon which the pueblo stands is slightly elevated 
above the surrounding country, and the Santa Fe 
railway now winds around near its base, so that all 
travellers have a good view of the strange and pic- 
turesque dwellings of the town. Here are terraced- 
houses the same as those we saw at Santa Clara and 
Cochiti, which seem to be built of adobe but are not. 
They are constructed of small pieces of sandstone, 
found in large quantities on the tops of these dis- 
integrating masses of rock, cemented together with 
mud, and then well plastered and whitewashed. The 
roofs are flat and made solid and strong enough to 
allow of their being used for actual out-of-door living 
purposes by those who occupy the story above them. 

This town is not an old one, having been founded 
in July, 1699, when it was made a pueblo. Prior to 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 75 

this time it had been merely a mission. The Indians 
own over 125,225 acres, mostly of desert land, granted 
to them by the Spanish Crown; and with pathetic 
industry they toil to raise squashes, melons, onions, 
and other vegetables, with a few peaches and apricots, 
in places where they can irrigate these lands, or where 
subsoil irrigation gives to them a reasonable expecta- 
tion that crops will grow. 

There are nineteen clans or families of which the 
people are composed, as follows : Bear, Sun, Badger, 
Eagle, Watersnake, Rattlesnake, Coyote, Yellow Corn 
and Red Corn, Water, Turkey, Wolf, Earth, Moun- 
tain Lion, Parrot, Turquoise, Chaparral Cock, 
Antelope, Lizard, and Oak. 

According to Laguna traditions, the Bear, Eagle, 
Water, Turkey, and Corn clans, together with some 
members of the Coyote clan, came originally from 
Acoma; the Badger, Parrot, Chaparral Cock, and 
Antelope clans and some members of the Coyote 
clan came from Zuni; the Sun people originated 
probably from San Felipe ; the Water, in Sia ; the 
Rattlesnake, in Oraibi ; the Wolf and Turquoise, in 
Sandia ; the Earth clan in Jemez ; while the Moun- 
tain Lion and Oak people claim to have come from 
Mount San Mateo. The Lizard clan is of unkno^\Ti 
origin. It will be seen, therefore, that Laguna is a 
town of mixed nationalities, there being four dis- 
tinct stocks represented, as well as all these different 
villages. These lingviistic stocks are Keresan, 
Tanoan, Shoshonean, and Zunian. 

In 1905 the population of the Laguna people 
was 1,384. It used to be the habit of this tribe to 



76 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

occupy the single village of Laguna, going away 
during the summer months to their farms, scattered 
in several groups throughout the country; but in 
1871, doubtless owing to the warnings given them 
that the white men might seize their farms if they 
did not continuously occupy them, they began to 
establish permanent homes at the former summer 
villages of Casa Blanca, Cubero, Hasatch, Paguate, 
Ensenil, Santa Ana, Paraje, Tsiama, and Puertecito, 
all of which are within a radius of fifteen or twenty 
miles. Paguate is the oldest and most popular of 
these summer villages, having a population of nearly 
four hundred. 

At Laguna, or any of the summer villages, one 
may see the simple and primitive customs of these 
people. They plant their corn with a small planting 
stick, just as their ancestors did in the ^^Days of the 
Old," and they dig their rude irrigating ditches 
exactly the same as their forefathers did long cen- 
turies before they gathered together and formed this 
new town of Laguna. 

They thresh their wheat in an interesting and 
picturesque fashion that reminds one of Bible days. 
In a large circular corral, formed of heavy tree-trunks, 
they spread the sheaves of ripened grain, having 
first thoroughly swept the ground clean. They then 
turn loose into the corral ten or a dozen head of 
horses, on the backs of two of which boys or young 
men are seated who drive the others around and 
around to trample out the grain. Every now and 
again, while going at full speed, the riders suddenly 
pull up their horses, turn them around, and thus 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 77 

face the leaders of the trampling band. This is done 
so quickly that as the horses turn to run in the otlier 
direction they ^^ scuffle" up the grain and thus make 
their trampling more effective. As soon as the 
trampling is done, the straw is thrown up in the air 
by means of pitchforks, so that all the grain may be 




LAGUNA INDIANS THRESHING OUT WHEAT 

dropped out, and in this way the straw is pretty 
thoroughly separated. The women then gather up 
the grain and chaff that remain, taking them to their 
houses, and there, when the wind blows sufficiently 
strong, they may be seen winnowing the chaff from 
the grain by the simple and most primitive method 
known. Spreading out a large sheet, on one side of 
which the mixed grain and chaff lie, the winnower 



78 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

picks up a good-sized basketful, and, standing so as 
to best catcli the wind, she gently pours out the grain 
from her basket. The wind carries away the cha:ff, 
while the heavier grain drops directly down upon 
the sheet. As soon as the grain-pile is large enough, 




INTERIOR LAGUNA HOUSE, NEW MEXICO 

she fills up her baskets, pottery bowls or sacks, and 
the grain is stored away for winter use. 

We entered the houses of several of the Laguna 
people. The floors were all of adobe, packed solid 
by moccasined feet which for many years had trod- 
den over them. While originally they had no chairs, 
bedsteads or other articles of furniture, as we under- 
stand the terms, always sitting and sleeping upon 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 79 

the floor, many of them now have these modern 
conveniences. 

To please us, however, and give us an idea of 
their primitive methods, our guide arranged with 
some of his old friends to have a dinner in the olden 
style. While this was being prepared, we wandered 
around, and when the hour arrived we were eager 
to partake of the aboriginal feast. When we entered 
the room, all the chairs, etc., had been removed and 
the food was spread out on the floor. There were 
no plates, for flat plaques and bowl-shaped baskets 
had been substituted for them. They had pottery 
bowls of their own manufacture, and some of the 
baskets were also used as bowls. 

And what do you think we had for dinner ? First 
of all, I must tell you how we all seated ourselves 
just as our three entertainers did, — two old women 
and one old man, — by squatting down on the ground. 
In a large room which adjoined the one in which we 
were to eat, suspended from the rafters by three 
strips of woven rawhide, were two long poles, over 
which were thrown numbers of native blankets, 
squaws' dresses, and dressed skins of coyotes, ante- 
lopes, deer, and bear. We were told that these were 
the '* poles of the soft stuff" and that they served the 
same purpose as the bureaus of the whites. From 
these ^' poles of the soft stuff" skins and blankets 
were brought, upon which we sat, and it was with 
some interest and curiosity that we turned our atten- 
tion to the meal. 

Dr. James said they must have gone to a great 
deal of trouble to borrow from the neighbors the 



80 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

beautiful baskets from which we ate. Each one had 
been thoroughly scrubbed clean, and as a concession 
to our civilized notions we were each provided with 
a spoon. The center dish was a large bowl filled with 
what I should call a mutton stew, though we after- 
wards found that there was some venison as well as 
mutton in it. The meat was cut up into small cubes, 
and there were potatoes, brown beans, onions, toma- 
toes and a good number of chili peppers. The dish 
was hot with these peppers, but we all agreed that 
it was as tasty a stew as we had even eaten in our 
lives. We were told not to indulge too freely in 
this, as another course was to come. It appeared 
that Dr. James had been peeking around and had 
found that a whole sheep was being cooked in our 
honor. And before it was brought in, he insisted 
upon our going to see the process of cooking. 

Out of doors, or, as we should say, ^^ right in the 
street," was the oven, a peculiar bee-hive or dome- 
shaped structure made of pieces of sandstone and 
adobe, and standing perhaps between three and five 
feet high. There was a fair-sized opening in front 
of it which could be closed up with a stone slab. On 
the top was a hole three or four inches in diameter, 
which acted as a chimney and which could likewise 
be closed up with a stone slab. It was explained to us 
that the oven was prepared by putting plenty of dry 
wood into it, which was fired and allowed to burn 
down. The ashes were then hastily withdrawn and 
the floor of the oven washed out with a rag fastened 
to a stick, exactly as a modern baker might do to his 
brick oven. The meat was then put in to roast, and 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 81 

the aperture at the top closed with a piece of rock 
around which wet mud was placed; and the same 
thing was done with the slab at the doorway, thus 
practically making the oven air- and steam-tight. 
Close by was another oven in which bread was 
being baked. 

In both cases the cooks must have been pretty 
good guessers to determine when the food was done, 
for, as far as I could see, they had no way of trying 
it, and yet the bread, biscuit and meat were perfectly 
cooked when they were set before us. Whether it 
was the novelty of eating with Indians, or that our 
appetites were sharpened, certain it is that I never 
tasted mutton that was any more appetizing than 
this ; and, to our surprise, we were regaled with two 
side-dishes, both of which were delicious. One was 
corn on the cob, which had been roasted in the ashes, 
and the other was chunks of squash or pumpkin, 
which had been baked in the oven with the meat. 

They gave us four different kinds of bread, and 
we were told that they were prepared by four differ- 
ent persons. First of all were the tortillas, which 
were made by simply mixing corn-meal with vv^ater, 
the dough being patted and stretched out until quite 
thin, and then baked on a hot slab. The second kind was 
very near to the ordinary hardtack one buys, though 
it was made of the flour of whole wheat, with the 
l)ran and everything else allowed to remain in, with 
a mixture of corn-meal and some of the wild grass 
seeds from which the Indians also make flour. While 
it was hard and solid, it was not quite so brittle as 
ship-biscuit, and seemed to me to be far more tasty. 



83 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



We all enjoyed it so much that we each of us begged 
a good big piece to take away. The third kind was 
a bread we afterwards became familiar with at Zuni, 
where it was called lie-tve, and in the Hopi country, 
in which latter region it was called pi-hi; but I forget 
what it was called at Laguna. We were so much 
interested in it that they showed us how it was made. 
A mixture of corn-meal, white-flour and grass-seed 




PUEBLO INDIAN WOMAN MAKING PI-KI 



flour was mixed into a thin batter. Outside the house 
a large stone slab was resting in such a way that a 
flre could be built underneath it. This slab was as 
smooth and as well greased as any white cook's 
griddle, and we soon saw why. When the slab was 
quite hot, our hostess, after greasing it with a piece 
of mutton f aty dipped her fingers into the batter, and, 
with a motion as deft as it was rapid, passed them 
back and forth over the slab, dipping them now and 
again in the batter to bring up a fresh supply. 
Quicker than I have been able to write these words, 
the thin mixture was cooked into a sheet of wafer- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 83 

like thinness, which, before it had time to become 
brittle was folded over and over and over until it 
was about the size and thickness of a shredded wheat 
biscuit. We have since seen this wafer bread made 
in different colors, sometimes it was a pale green, or 
with a bluish tinge, sometimes a light brown and at 
other times with a pink tinge. 

The fourth kind of bread was simply ordinary 
white bread made into cakes and small biscuits. We 
learned that it had been made for us by Annie Mor- 
ton, a Laguna girl who had been well educated in the 
various Indian schools. She was an old friend of 
Dr. James, and seeing him at a distance and learning 
that we were to have a native feast, had sent this ad- 
dition to our table. 

We afterward met Annie and found her a most 
refined, cultivated, well educated and intelligent girl. 
Indeed, in her knowledge of the things that we our- 
selves were studying in the Chicago schools she was 
our sTiperior. She had been the secretary, steno- 
grapher and typewriter for a gentleman in Southern 
California, by whom she was highly esteemed both 
for her character and ability. She was now home for 
a little holiday with her people, as once in a while 
there came over her a longing to visit with those of 
her own kin. 

Our dessert was served with the rest of the din- 
ner in little pottery bowls or saucers of home manu- 
facture. It consisted of dried peaches sweetened 
with white man's sugar. In addition to this, we had 
coffee. It was not of a quality to brag much about 
and we afterwards learned that it was a brand much 



84 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



used by the Indians. It was not genuine coffee, but 
a made-up mixture artificially molded into coffee- 
berry shape. It has a large sale in the west amongst 
the Indians, cowboys and miners. 

Annie took us to the old church, a most interest- 
ing building, built the same as the houses, but more 
imposing in appearance. On the walls there were 
rude STOibols of nature-worship which, to us, 




THE OLD CHURCH AT LAGUNA, N. M. 



seemed strange in a Roman Catholic church. But 
these matters were explained to us as follows. When 
the Spanish padres found that these Indians were 
nature-worshippers they explained to them that the 
Creator of Nature was God Almighty, as taught by 
the Roman Catholic church. They then sought to 
lead these savage minds to an understanding of God 
through the objects he had made — the sun, the moon, 
the stars, the milky-way, the thunder, the lightning, 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



85 



the rain, the cyclone, the snow, etc. Thus the sym- 
bols of the nature worship of the Indians were turned 
into means of educating them into the white man's 
conception of God, so that they were allowed to be 
placed as decorations in the houses dedicated to His 
worship. 




ON THE WAY TO ACOMA. THE ENCHANTED MESA IN THE 
DISTANCE. 



TO THE ENCHANTED MESA AND ACOMA 



At Laguna wagons and a few saddle-horses were 
provided for us and we turned our faces southward, 
across the little Eio San Jose, over the sand-hills to 
a region that we were told was one of the most pic- 
turesque and fascinating in all America. We were 



86 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

going to see Katzimo, the Enchanted Mesa, and then 
Acoma, the City of the Clouds. 

As we journeyed Dr. James discoursed to us as 
follows : 

'^Man has found many wonderful places for the 
sites of his towns and cities but nowhere more won- 
derful, picturesque and — from the modern stand- 
point — ^wholly impossible than in New Mexico and 
Arizona. The ^mesa' towns of the Hopi — perched 
high on almost inaccessible cliffs thrust out from a 
vast plateau into the heart of the desert, and the can- 
yon deep home of the Havasusai, five thousand feet 
below the surrounding region, are types of these 
unique sites. Both types are reached only by trails 
that are the dread and despair of the Henderfoot,' 
the timid and the lazy, and both were doubtless 
chosen because of their very ^ impossibility, ' inaccessi- 
bility and comparative easiness of defense. 

*'By far the most picturesque of the mesa towns 
is Acoma, perched high on a wonderful ^penyol' — 
an island of rock, isolated, however, with sand in- 
stead of water — in the plain some twenty miles south 
of Laguna. When the Indians first went there it is 
impossible exactly to tell, but, whenever it was, it was 
at a time when defense was needed, easy, swift and 
sure. So they chose this site because there was no 
way to reach it save up a dizzy trail which climbed 
part of the way sheer up the face of the cliff, by 
hand and foot holes, in the heart of a cleft, cunningly 
hidden bv nature and not easy for the stranger to 
find. 

*' According to tradition, for the Acomas have a 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 87 

wonderful lore of stories of old days, — whicli, how- 
ever, must not be confounded with their stories of 
the ^days of old,' the latter dealing with the times 
when their gods and mythical heroes alone dwelt on 
the earth — they came from the far-away north, and 
their first recorded village was Kashka-chuti. Here 
they dwelt for a long time until 'the urge' sent them 
further south to Washpashuka, where they remained 
imtil another southward impulse brought them to 
Kuchtya. The sites of none of these towns are known 
even to their oldest and wisest men. But, finally, 
they reached 'the land of the present'; the region 
every foot of which they know today as no one else 
knows it ; the region of plain and mesa, of great, flat- 
topped, precipitous-sloped, talus-surrounded rocky 
tables of massive grandeur and impressive sublimity 
that the transcontinental traveler begins to notice 
more particularly wdien he strikes the little station 
of Bluewater on the main line of the Santa Fe rail- 
way. They dot New Mexico all over, also parts of 
Arizona, and nowhere are they more attractive and 
striking than in the region north and south of La- 
guna. 

'^When the traveling ancestors of the Acomas 
reached this land they reared the walls of Tsiame, at 
the gateway of a half canyon, afterwards named by 
the Spaniards, the Canyada de la Cruz. But, even 
here they did not linger long. A more attractive site 
was found at Tapitsiania, a great mesa overlooking 
the Acoma valley from the northwest. Still another 
change was made, and this was to Katzimo — the ac- 
cursed — the mighty rock from which '^ Those Above" 



88 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

drove them in most dramatic manner. Or, at least, 
tliey allowed tliem to leave and then forbade their 
return bv making reascent impossible." 

Dr. James had got this far in his story when we 
begged him to tell us all about Katzimo. He re- 
quested us to wait an hour or so when we should 
arrive at the rock generally known as Katzimo; 
called La Mesa Encantada by the Spaniards, or The 
Enchanted Mesa by the whites, and which was made 
the location of a wordy fight between white men 
almost as fierce as that which raged as to the identity 
of the author of the Letters of Junius. 

^Mn the meantime," he continued, ^Hhe Acomas 
found a new home, and that is where they are today, 
where the army of Don Francisco Vasquez de Coro- 
nado found them in 1540, perched high on a pic- 
turesque mass of rock around which you can ride and 
see no possible means of ascent, and which has been 
the site of some of the hardest fighting — on a small 
scale — men ever indulged in." 

AT THE ENCHANTED MESA 

In less than two hours after leaving Laguna we 
were camped at the foot of Katzimo. All the way 
along we had been in a valley of cliffs, pink, gray, 
creamy, with occasionally a touch of orange, crimson 
and olive, but here was a detached mass : left solitary, 
alone, dignified, in the heart of the valley. It tow- 
ered majestically above the tiny pinions at its base, 
though some masses of rocky talus were piled up 
quite high at the foot of the cliffs. The walls are 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



89 



seamed and scarred with many a storm. The light- 
nings have cracked their fierce whips and the tliun- 
ders have crashed and roared about them, and rain 
and snow, sleet and drizzle, sun and frost have 
gnawed on every hand, until towers and pinnacles, 
minarets and spires croAvn the rugged and scarred 
walls. To the north, from which direction we ap- 




KATZIMO OR THE ENCHANTED MESA, NEAR ACOMA. N. M. 



proached, a piled up mass of talus, leading up into a 
deep amphitheater, suggested to the boys that thoy 
could easily reach the top, and before the horses were 
unsaddled they w^ere half way up, making the at- 
tempt. They found another amphitheater on tlie west 
side, but each was deceptive. The walls were steeper 
and higher than they seemed. AYe walked completely 
around it, and in no other place than these two was 



90 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

there a possibility or hope of scaling so sheer a mass 
of rugged and precipitous wall. 

THE STORY OF KATZIMO 

After lunch we sat in the shade of a clump of pinions 
or junipers while Dr. James told us the following in- 
teresting story, which has twice been written for 
white readers, viz., by Charles F. Lummis in his 
^^New Mexico David," and by Professor Frederick 
W. Hodge, Chief of the Bureau of American Eth- 
nology. 

^^ There are slight variations of this story, even as 
told by the Indians, for I have heard it at least half 
a dozen different times, but the main facts are as 
follows: Katzimo was even more difficult of access 
than Acoma, for there was but one trail to the sum- 
mit, and that for part of the way was up a huge 
sliver of rock that had been separated from the main 
wall by the action of the weather during the centu- 
ries. Who would dare attack so impregnable a fort- 
ress? Indians had no guns, no cannon, no shell, no 
* bombs bursting in air.' Their most dangerous 
weapons were stone axes, flint knives on sticks, bows 
and arrows and lances. None of these could be used 
from the foot of the cliff upon a brave defender of 
his home standing above, with a pile of heavy rocks at 
his side ready to be flung down. Here one man could 
hold an army at bay. 

*^But there had been no foes about for some time, 
so, on a certain evening the public herald stood on the 
given housetop and announced in his loud, stentorian 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 91 

voice: ^O people of the Avliite rock, Listen, Listen, 
for the words that I speak are those of command. 
They come from our father, the governor. It is time 
for the planting of the crops. Men, women and chil- 
dren shall assemble at sunrise and all shall go to 
the valley beneath, there to repair the irrigating 
ditches, pluck the weeds, plant the seeds that the corn, 
beans, cotton, squash, onions and other good things 
may grow for our next year 's food. ' 

^^None thought of disobeying the voice. All were 
there in the morning, for in a perfect republic as was 
this of Acoma, all found pleasure in working for the 
good of all. Then, too, there was to be fun as well 
as work. Races and other athletic sports were to be 
enjoyed. The fields were several miles away, near the 
San Jose river. The Indians were expert irrigators 
of the soil in a simple and primitive fashion, and they 
made a rude planting stick which they forced into 
the sand, and then dropped the seeds into the hole, 
scraped in loose sand enough to cover them up, then 
turned on the water long enough to give seeds and 
ground a good soaking and left the warm sun to do 
the rest. Here were no laggards, and no one was ex- 
empted — there were no privileged and no laboring 
classes, — all were privileged to labor and all counted 
labor a privilege. Boys and girls worked with their 
elders, carrying mud in blankets and baskets to hel]:) 
repair ditches, or build up dams with rocks and 
brush. Those who were not big enough for this work 
watched their baby brothers and sisters, so that the 
mammas could help. 

^^AU were busily engaged. Only two or three sick 



92 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

old women and a couple of boys were left behind on 
Katzimo, so full attention was given to the work in 
hand. Suddenly the heavens were darkened with 
clouds that came rolling up from the storm quarter. 
A heavy thunder storm was coming such as some- 
times even to this day deluges the country with sud- 
den floods. The growling of distant thunder was 
heard ; then the flashes of lightning were seen ; they 
came nearer, and at last it began to rain. First the 
drops came in large splotches. It was a quick 
shower and soon over. Then the sun came out. But 
it was only for a few minutes. Another volley of 
thunder and a glare of vivid lightning and down came 
the rain in torrents. The busy workers fled before its 
fury. They hid under the shelters of brush they had 
constructed, and some fled to the cliffs, where under 
overhanging rocks they found protection from the 
storm. In the distance Katzimo was wreathed in 
clouds, and now and again the lightning seemed to 
crown it with a halo of light. What a storm it was ! 
How the rain poured down. Faster and faster it 
came until the storm became a flood. The Acomas, 
now thoroughly scared, fled to the top of the cliffs 
for refuge against the waters of the Rio San Jose, 
which by now had become a raging, roaring, turbu- 
lent river, such as few of them had ever seen in this 
generally quiet little valley. Then the flood became a 
deluge, and some of them thought the end of things 
had come. 

' ' But even the worst of storms beat out their rage 
and fury in time and quiet down in spite of them- 
selves. More suddenly than the heavens were dark- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 93 

ened were the clouds dispersed, and the Father Sun 
again resumed his imperious sway. Farming was 
impossible for awhile, at least, and so all hands re- 
turned to Katzimo. There it stood as majestic, as 
grand, as smiling as ever — for smiling it always 
seemd to be to the Acomas since they had established 
their home on its summit. Eager to return home 
they plodded through the streams and wet-soaked 
sands until they stood under the shadow of Katzimo. 
But here their footsteps were arrested. Whence 
came all this pile of rocks that barred their path- 
way ? Looking up they saw, to their horror, that the 
great rock sliver, up which their trail to the summit 
of Katzimo had been pecked out, had fallen^ and there 
was neither ascent nor descent possible. 

*^Now they understood to the full the wailing 
voices that they had heard from above. The sick 
ones there had learned of the disaster and were cry- 
ing to be released; to be saved from the awful fate 
of desertion and starvation. But the Indian mind 
works peculiarly. The oriental mind calls the inevit- 
able ^^ kismet." There is not much difference be- 
tween oriental aborigine and occidental aborigine. 
*It is never safe to interfere with the will of Those 
Above.' Was not their will clearly expressed? The 
means of access was gone. Access was denied. 

^'Sorrowfully, but none the less determinedly the 
Acomas sought a new dwelling place and found it on 
the penyol to which we are now going, and only with 
bated breath ever refer to those who were 4ost and 
forgotten,' on the summit of ^Katzimo, the accursed.' 

^^ Naturally all who read this legend were very 



94 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



much interested, and among others was Professor 
William Libbey, of Princeton University. He deter- 




PROFESSOR HODGE AND PARTY MAKING THE ASCENT OF THE 
MESA ENCANTADA, N. M. 



mined, if possible, to scale the cliff, and as the story 
he had read spoke of absolutely inaccessible walls, he 
wasted no time in small endeavor, but secured a com- 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 95 

plete sea life-saving a]3paratiis, with cannon for firing 
a rocket, to which a line could be attached, clear over 
the mesa. 

^^In July, 1897, he succeeded in reaching the 
summit in a boatswain's chair, hauled up on a 
life-line, and after spending three hours on the sum- 
mit failed to find anything Hhat indicated even a 
former visit by human beings. ' 

^^When the reports of his expedition were read 
by Mr. Lummis, they caused great excitement and 
indignation and a controversy was started that was 
neither dignified, scientific nor gentlemanly. But in 
September of the same year Professor Hodge decided 
to make the ascent, accompanied by Major George H. 
Pradt, for thirty years a civil engineer in New Mex- 
ico, Mr. A. C. Vroman, of Pasadena, Calif., and Mr. 
H. C. Hoyt, of Chicago, and accomplished the feat 
with no other assistance than a few lengths of ladder 
and some coils of stout rope. 

^^This party found, as had Mr. Hodge in 1895, in 
the great western cove of the cliff, the remnants of an 
old and deeply worn trail, and also several j)ieces of 
pottery, two pieces of stone axes, and a portion of a 
shell bracelet. A small cairn, evidently piled up with 
human hands as a monument was also found. These 
were all clear evidences of human presence and Pro- 
fessor Hodge, then descending and again carefully 
examining the mass of talus at the foot of the cliffs 
— which in one place is piled up 224 feet above the 
level of the plain — and finding therein much broken 
pottery, etc., came to the conclusion that the tradition 
was clearly Adndicated. And as such it is generally 



96 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

regarded by most of the scientific students of the 
country today." 

Dr. James, however, says he should be willing to 
accept this decision were it not for several things 
that the Acomas have told him. These are to the 
effect that the elders have purposely misled strangers 
as to the location of Katzimo ; that while the tradition 



ROCKY WALLS NEAR THE ACOMA TRAIL, N. M. 

as told is correct, in the main, they have not desired 
that white men should find the spot, and that it is 
elsewhere, and that, some day, they will take him and 
show him the ^^real" Katzimo upon which there are 
still plenty of ruins to clearly demonstrate that a 
large village once occupied its commanding site. In 
talking about this matter Dr. James said it was per- 



SO.AIE STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



97 



fectly possible that his informants might have been 
in error, but that until we have studied the country 
far more than we have he does not see that it is neces- 
sary to settle the question in favor of one site or 
another. 

THE ASCENT OF THE ACOMA TRAIL 

It was late in the afternoon when we reached tlie foot 
of the mesa at Acoma. While when the white men 




i^^< 



A STREET IN THE PUEBLO OF ACOMA, N. M. 



first saw it there was only one trail to the summit, 
Dr. James said there were now four — all of which 
we afterwards went up and down. This time we were 
to go up not the steepest and most dangerous, but 
one that made us all wonder what we should possibly 
do wlien we came to the one that was really danger- 



98 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

ous. But long before our horses had come to a stand- 
still half a dozen young men, one old one, and several 
children were hailing our guide as an old friend. He 
jumped from his horse and greeted them with evident 
delisrht, and then arms around shoulders thev walked 
along, chatting and laughing with evident merriment. 




THE OLD CHURCH AT ACOMA, N. M. THE TOWERS HAVE BEEN 
RECENTLY RESTORED 



At the foot of the trail our horses were unhar- 
nessed and unsaddled, and taken away by some of the 
Acomas. It was strange that none of us had the 
slightest fear. We seemed to be with old friends, in- 
stead of with the wild Indians we had read about, 
and the story of whose determined resistance of the 
white men Dr. James had alreadv outlined to us. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 99 

Now all our valises, bags, provisions, bedding, 
cameras and everything were piled up. Those pieces 
which were easily carriable by hand were put aside, 
and all the rest dumped into several stout blankets, 
the corners of which were tied together, and speedily 
hoisted upon the sturdy backs of our new Indian 
friends. They went ahead of us and we soon saw 
them scaling an absolutely precipitous cliff — in the 
heart of a cleft — like flies on a wall. It made our 
hearts stand still. Did we have to follow? 

We soon found we did. But it was so planned 
that there was some friendly hand to help each of 
us at the critical places. First of all the trail was 
a series of steps of rock and tree trunks until we were 
well up in the heart of the cleft, then our fingers were 
guided into little hand holes and our feet put into 
foot-holes and for about ten feet we had to climb up 
a sheer wall. But we were helped so handily and so 
surely that we all reached the top with no more than 
a few extra heart beats and a sharp sigh or two. 
Then we entered a rocky tunnel and on emerging on 
the other side we were actually on the top of the mesa 
on which stands Acoma. Yes ! there was the rear of 
the old church; there was the priest's house; there 
the governor's; there the grave-yard, and here the 
house where we were to make our home so long as we 
stayed. Our host was Lorenzo, the governor, and his 
wife was a fine-looking, stout, motherly woman with 
a bronzed face, but kindly looking and with eyes 
that smiled a loving welcome to us and made us feel 
at home at once. And their daughter, Lolita, all 
fell in love with at sight — girls and boys alike — 



100 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



and I believe Professor and Mrs. Young and Dr. 
James were smitten as badly as we were. Indeed, the 
latter afterwards confessed that Lolita had won his 
heart years ago, w^hen he first came to Acoma and 
stopped at her father's house. She was a little tot 
then, but, said he, she becomes more winning as she 
grows older. 





«>* 





THE GOVERNOR AND HIS STAFF AT ACOMA, N. M. (ON THE STEPS 
OF THE OLD CHURCH) 



THE PrEBLO OF ACOMA 

We could not wait for supper before we had made a 
hasty survey of the village, and we saw so much and 
heard so much that it was as hard work to sleep up 
here as it had been the night before at the foot of 
Katzimo. 

The next day we learned the history of Acoma as 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 101 

far as it is known since its people were discovered by 
Coronado in 1540. We were reminded of tliat ini- 
fortunate expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez to Flor- 
ida which resnlted in the wreck and loss of every 
vessel and of the death of every man save five who, 
led by Cabeza de Vaca, after nnmerous wild and 
strange adventures, traversed the whole continent 
and reached the Spanish settlements in Northern 
Mexico eight years after they were supposed to have 
been dead. In his wanderings Cabeza had heard of 
seven strange and wonderful cities where, he was in- 
formed, vast wealth was to be obtained. The viceroy, 
Mendoza, sent out a keen and wise observer, Marcos 
de Niza, to make a general reconnaisance of the coun- 
try, before he allowed a large and elaborate expedi- 
tion to enter for the purpose of its subjugation to the 
crown of Spain. We shall later see the very hill — 
near Zuni — to which the indefatigable Marcos came, 
and *^ viewed the landscape o'er," not daring to enter 
the village itself, lest like his advance messenger, the 
negro Stephen, he be slain. So he secretly surveyed 
Zuni and then returned with a glowing and enthusi- 
astic account of the wonders of the country he had 
passed through and the remarkable Indian cities he 
had seen. Then the expedition was allowed to pro- 
ceed, and what a gallant band, and extra gallant lead- 
ers it had, and its commander and chief was most 
gallant of all. Don Francisco Vasquez de Coronado 
was a cousin, by marriage, of the proud Emperor of 
Spain, Charles Y, and his mother-in-law had given 
him a wedding gift that made Cortez complain — its 
income was so great. Hence there was nothing nig- 



102 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

garclly in the equipment of the expedition. There 
were three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred 
natives of New Spain gathered together — 1,100 in 
all. Castaiieda, tlie historian of the expedition, says 
that ^'such a noble body was never collected in the 
Indies." 

They had adventures enough before they reached 
Zuni, and here Coronado was wounded, so he sent 
Hernando de Ah^arado with twenty men to investi- 
gate the rumors that were rife about remarkable 
cities to be found Eastward. In five days after 
leaving Zuni, Alvarado gazed on Acoma — the first 
white man ever dazzled by its peerless situation. 
Never since has an intelligent being stood at the base 
of those cliffs without experiencing deep and uncon- 
trollable emotions. Castaiieda, in a few words stated 
that Acoma is situated upon ^^a perpendicular rock," 
and that the only way to reach the summit was by 
means of a stairway of three hundred steps, hewn out 
of the solid rock. 

We climbed down that stairway — and we were 
told it was a great honor to be allowed even to know 
of its location, and then, though the weather was 
warm, we walked completely around the great mesa. 
We enjoyed as much as our limited time would admit 
the rocky sculpturings and the striking mural faces 
it presents. All around, it is inaccessible, impreg- 
nable, except where the four trails constructed by the 
Queres have made its ascent possible. Towers, but- 
tresses, battlements, bridges innumerable stand in 
conscious majesty as Nature's guards to the home of 
this quiet and peaceful people. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 103 

And yet not in Coronado's day, but later, it saw 
many and dreadful scenes of bloodshed. For, fifty- 
eight years after Alvarado's advent, and long after 
Coronado and his expedition had returned, disheart- 
ened and discredited, to Old Mexico, Juan de Onate, 
the real conqueror of Arizona and New Mexico, came 
to receive anew the submission of the people of this 
^^City of the Cliffs." Treachery was in the hearts 
of the principales when they solemnly pledged them- 
selves to be true and submissive vassals to the croT\m 
of Spain. They were diplomats of an early American 
era. To them, the end justified the means, and lies 
and treachery were legitimate weapons in dealing 
with hostile forces of such overwhelming power. 

Having subscribed to the oath, the Acomas in- 
vited Juan de Onate to climb the steep and perilous 
trails and visit the city whose submission he had re- 
ceived. After gazing upon its scenes of interest, he 
was taken to the head of a ladder, which led into 
the depths of one of the underground ceremonial 
chambers, termed kivas by the Indians, but named 
estufas, or stoves, by the Spaniards, on account of 
their stifling heat. Would he go below and see the 
ceremonial chamber? Just as he was about to de- 
cend, the darkness below sent a shaft of suspicion 
into his fearless heart, and he refused to go. Well 
for him it was that he let prudence control his acts at 
that time ; for, in the darkness of the kiva a score or 
more of armed warriors were stealthily in waiting, 
watching for his steps upon the ladder, and, ere he 
reached the bottom, a score of willing hands would 
have been dyed in his life blood, while armed men 



104 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

above would ruthlessly have murdered his little band 
of followers. 

A few weeks later Oiiate's maestro de campo, 
Juan de Zaldivar, who had been exploring eastward, 
came to Acoma with thirty men, and, lured by the 
peaceful protestations of the Acomas, left fourteen 
of them below to guard the horses, and then, with 
sixteen men, climbed the trail. With quiet stealth 
and under most friendly guise, Zaldivar and his men 
were scattered, when suddenly, like the whirling cy- 
clone from the heavens above, all the warriors of the 
to\^Ti fell upon the hapless Spaniards with flint 
knives, stone battle axes, heavy hammers, bows and 
arrows, and war clubs. Surprised, apart, unready, 
these adventurous warriors, who had braved the sav- 
ages of thousands of miles of desert marches, one by 
one were slain. Here would be seen a desperate but 
hopeless conflict ; a mailed warrior, back to wall, blood 
streaming through his broken helmet, surrounded by 
yelling, screeching, howling, naked savages, all at- 
tacking at once and with a ferocity altogether irre- 
sistible. Juan was slain, others of his officers and 
men, one by one, licked the barren rock in the agonies 
of death, and, at last, five soldiers only remained. 
Fortunately, they were able to get together, alid thus, 
side by side, encouraging each other, they fought, 
striking and thrusting at every good opportunity into 
the dusky mass of surging savagery which deter- 
minedly forced itself upon them. Back, foot by foot, 
they were driven. Step by step they came nearer to 
the edge of those frightful cliffs. Yet death at the 
foot of a yawning precipice was preferable to cap- 



SOME STRAXGE PLx\CES AND PEOPLES 105 

tivity, torture, and horrible death at the hands of ruth- 
less saA^ages ; so, cheering each other with brave words, 
these daring and desperate men flung themselves 
over the brink and commended their bodies and souls 
to Santiago, the patron saint of Spain. Courage and 
bravery were rewarded in all but one, who, falling 
on the solid rocks, was dashed to pieces. The other 
four, fortunately, breaking their fall on the soft, 
ever-changing sand heaps, escai^ed with their lives, 
and were soon in the helpful and soothing care of 
their comrades. The fear of their horses kept the 
camp below from the attacks they dreaded, and, just 
as soon as the wounded soldiers were able to travel, 
the little, sad-hearted band hastily set forth, some 
for the main army of Juan de Ofiate, at San Gabriel 
de los Caballeros, the second city founded on United 
States territory, and others to give warning to the 
scattered Spaniards at Zuni, Hopi and elsewhere to 
gather together at San Gabriel for mutual protection. 
When Oiiate heard the news, a determination for 
vengeance fired his soul. With seventy men he sent 
Zaldivar's brother, Vicente, to make his vengeful 
anger felt upon the Acomas. The storming of that 
hitherto impregnable citadel is a story that stirs the 
blood. For three days and nights the battle raged. 
Deeds of daring and heroism were performed that well 
deserve to become famed. Step by step the ascent 
was made ; blood was shed like water, scores of In- 
dians lost their lives, and still the fight continued. 
But determined to avenge their comrades' treacher- 
ous murder, the soldiers of Vicente fought with a 
quiet, desperate valor that could know no defeat. 



106 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

There was but one alternative to victory, and that 
was death. 

At last the rock itself was gained ; then the town 
must be stormed. The one howitzer they had brought 
was put into use and the adobe walls blown down; 
fire aided the attacking forces, and at last the chief 
warriors sued for peace and offered to surrender. 
Dearly was Juan de Zaldivar slain, for it cost the 
Acomas the greater portion of their fighting men. 

For many years after this the Acomas were peace- 
ful until the rebellion of Pope, which took in all New 
Mexico in 1680, when the Spaniards were entirely 
driven out of New Mexico and kept at bay for nearly 
eighteen years. This is such an interesting story that 
a whole chapter is devoted elsewhere to it. Then 
Diego de Vargas, the daring Spanish cavalier, came 
as the reconqueror, and more scenes of battle and 
bloodshed were witnessed, until the Indians were fin- 
ally subjugated. 

And here we were, perched high on this isolated 
rock, a tiny handful of white people, practically with- 
out weapons, among the descendants of these deter- 
mined warriors, and yet not one of us had a fear. 
Time had kindly changed the hearts of the Acomas 
towards the whites, and they met us and entertained 
us with a hospitality as genuine and complete as their 
hostility in former daj^s had been determined and 
persistent. 

In the morning we began our explorations. The 
superficial area of this rocky table of Acoma is 
seventy acres, and it is perched nearly 360 feet high 
above the plain. But how inadequate words are to 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 107 

picture the rugged grandeurs and wierd attractive- 
ness of the rock and its surroundings. The walls are 
carved into a thousand and one forms ; strange, fan- 
tastic, top-heavy statues of rude and grotesque out- 
line, suggesting monstrous griffons and dragons after 
the hideous gargoyles of European cathedrals; nar- 
row clefts, ravines, chasms, in which are hidden 
standing rocks, balanced rocks, pillar rocks, and some 
of which are spanned by natural bridges of massive 
outline, that dwarf into insignificance the most pon- 
derous of man's efforts in this line. It is a veritable 
turn-pin nu-ivcar, too-iveep, ^4and of the standing 
rocks, ' ' and there are scores of massive mural faces, 
the tops of which are nature-shaped into towers, pin- 
nacles, columns, domes, minarets and rude spires. 
We saw sheep corrals made by fencing in the entrance 
of a cul-de-sac, whose walls towered hundreds of feet 
into the blue sky. Nearby was another made by sur- 
rounding a standing rock-pillar with a fence, which, 
just at sunset, cast a shadow upon the sand strangely 
and startlingly like a sleeping giant of unearthly pro- 
portion. 

We went all around and over the wonderful old 
church — how wonderful who can describe — that Mr. 
Lummis says ^^ covers more ground than any modern 
cathedral in the United States." It is a great adobe 
building, with two towers in which hang bells brought 
from far-away Peru. The walls are sixty feet high 
and ten feet through, and in the roof are solid tim- 
bers fourteen inches square and forty feet long which 
span the building from wall to wall. These were 
chopped down in the mountain forest twenty miles 



108 A LITTLE JOURXEY TO 

away, and after being hewed into their present shape, 
were dragged by sheer man-muscle to Acoma and 
hauled up the cliff to their present position. The 
grave yard is pathetic beyond measure, not only in 
the feature it holds in common with all burial places 
of the loved dead, but because of its remarkable 
building. It is a graveyard that w^as actually built 
by the patient labor of many, many women, working 
as the slave Hebrews did under the lash of the 
Egyptians. It is two hundred feet square, and on 
two of its sides had to be ^Svalled up" from the 
eroded rock, in some places for forty feet. Thus a 
huge stone box was made in which the earth was to 
be placed, and every pound of this earth w^as either 
scraped up from some other part of the mesa top and 
carried here in blankets on the backs of the patient 
women, or, harder still, was gathered from the plain 
beneath and with toilsome labor carried up the dizzy 
trail and then deposited. We do not wonder that it 
took forty years to fill up this great hole. 

Before we reached the church, how^ever, Dr. James 
had had an interesting experience wdth the Governor 
and the princijxdes. For some time he had wanted 
to secure a photograph of them, which they had been 
unwilling to allow. He knew that on this particular 
morning they were all coming to early morning mass, 
and that led him to think of a plan that would secure 
what he wanted. Said he: ^^I was out bright and 
early, my scheme all ready for action. After making 
a picture of the church, I planted the camera directly 
opposite the steps, focusing on them, setting the shut- 
ter, drawing the slide from before the plate, and see- 



SOME STRANGE TLACES AND PEOPLES 109 

ing that all was ready for the mere pressing of the 
bulb. I had prepared myself with plenty of tobacco, 
cigarette papers, candy and my pocket microscope. 
Then I waited. 

'^ Soon my patience was rewarded. The governor 
and several of his devout staff appeared, ready for 
the mass, which custom required them to attend. The 
priest, however, was a little late in arriving, so, with 
tobacco as a lure, they were easily persuaded to take 
seats with me on the steps. They eyed the camera 
rather suspiciously, but, as I paid no attention to it, 
and handed out tAvo or three sacks of tobacco and 
bade them smoke, and then began to chat, their sus- 
picions were soon appeased. 

'^Then, taking out my microscope, I lighted the 
governor's cigarette with it. This was wonderful. 
Then I held his hand and let the 'burning glass' get 
in its work. This amused him, and, putting his fin- 
gers to his lips, for silence, he suggested I burn Luis 
and then all the rest. When this was done, they were 
prettv well contented, and while they were still in the 
enjoyment of the fun I carelessly sauntered to the 
camera, and, without looking towards them, pressed 
the bulb and made their picture. Though I did not 
look, I felt and heard their motions of surprise and 
astonishment at hearing the camera 'click,' and re- 
membering the old saying that one might 'as well be 
han^-ed for a sheep as a lamb,' I determined to go in 
for a whole flock. So, hastily putting in the slide, 
reversing the plate, and setting the shutter, I made 
another exposure— all within a few seconds— and a 
second picture was the result." 



110 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

THE COMING OF ST. JAMES TO SPAIN 

With all his sturdiness of character, stolidity of 
demeanor and evident seriousness, the Indian is 
strangely childlike in many ways. In nothing is this 
more manifest than in his love for dramatic shows. 
Every clan has its own religious ceremonies most of 
which are conducted in secrecy in the underground 
kivas. Comparatively few of these ceremonies have 
ever been seen by white men, and very few have been 
described. Many of them are old and have been 
handed down from such a far-away time that the 
meaning of some of the words used in them have been 
completely forgotten. 

The Spaniards found many such ceremonies in 
existence when they first subjugated these people. 
With a wisdom as shrewd as it was kindly, they took 
them and lopped off a little here, a little there, and 
added thereto a few new features, thus giving them 
a Christian appearance. They then named them as 
fiestas after the saints, so that they became peculiar 
mixtures of the old and the new, offended nobody and 
practically pleased all concerned. 

One of these changed-over ceremonies Ave were to 
witness that morning. It was to be a dramatic repre- 
sentation of the coming of Santiago^St. James — the 
national saint of the Spaniards, to Spain. 

Long before we had breakfast we could feel that 
something exciting was in the air. The men were 
decked in their finest costumes, and the women were 
still arraying themselves in their most gaudy apparel. 
Bands of horses had been clattering up and down 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 111 

the naturally stone-paved streets for hours and the 
noise had awakened us in the early morning. Soon 
after breakfast we were all drawn, as by a magnet, to 
one spot on the mesa top. It was near the head of the 
trail which had been built up by the drifting sands 
on the northeast face of the cliff. Every eye that 
knew what to expect was gazing off in the far-away 
distance where pinions and junipers hid the sandy 
soil. Soon two young men on fiery broncos came 
dashing up as if they were messengers of importance. 
Eiding as far as it was possible up the steep trail, 
and greeted on every hand by buzzing tongues, they 
came to the governor and princi pales who awaited 
them in a dignified group near the head of the trail. 
There they announced the fact that Saint James was 
on his way to Acoma and would soon arrive. Though 
no public announcement of what the messengers had 
said was made, everybody seemed to understand and 
every gaze became more fixed and insistent than be- 
fore. Soon the quaintest and queerest little figure 
that was ever seen appeared among the trees on the 
plain surrounded by a hundred horsemen, not riding 
sedately and soberly, but all in a hurry of bustle and 
excitement. Single horsemen and groups darted off, 
like the wind, in every direction on apparently aim- 
less errands and came back with equally aimless 
speed. They were messengers sent out by the saint 
to inform the j)eople along the way of his arrival. 
For that comical little figure, which at first we could 
make nothing of, at last came near enough for us 
clearly to see what it was. It was a man riding some 
kind of a figure draped in white with a small horse's- 



112 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

head, neck, mane, back and tail attached to him, 
which he made to prance and cavort around in a 
series of fantastic movements that were as interest- 
ing as tlie movements of the great Cliinese dragon of 
San Francisco. This was Santiago himself. 

When the foot of the sand trail was reached, the 
couriers of Saint James dismounted from their 
horses, which they left there in charge of one of their 
number, and then, solemnly and with reverence, they 
formed as a body-guard around the peculiar figure 
which continued his prancings and curvetings and 
accompanied him up the trail to the mesa top. Here 
he was received with the greatest respect and marks 
of veneration by the governor and the other town 
officials, and with deep and earnest, but nevertheless 
hearty cordiality, by the people. After a few min- 
utes spent in exchange of salutations, the whole party 
wended its way towards the church. Here mass was 
performed by Father Juillard, in Avhich he was as- 
sisted by Lorenzo, our host, and two Indian boys as 
acolytes, after which a short sermon was delivered 
telling the story of Saint James' coming to Spain, 
and at the same time giving the history of San Este- 
ban (Saint Stephen) who is now the patron saint of 
the Acomas. 

We of the white race, w^ho call ourselves ^* civi- 
lized," were more than pleased, — we were both sur- 
prised and amazed at the decorous silence and rever- 
ence manifested by all the worshippers. There was 
not one whisper during the whole ceremony, and no 
wandering eye gaping about revealing lack of inter- 
est in what was going on. During the service I caught 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 113 

a glimpse of a group of young men standing near the 
door, their wrapt expression of profound interest re- 
vealing how deeply they were impressed by that 
which their eloquent priest was telling them. 



THE FIESTA OF SAN ESTEBAN 

As SOON as the service was over, a procession was 
formed, different from any procession I ever saw 
before, and yet in some features it was similar to 
ordinary Catholic processions. First of all came the 
peculiar little figure of Saint James riding his sham 
horse. Then, more peculiar even than Saint James, 
was a tall Mexican, dressed in cowboy fashion, with 
wide-spreading sombrero on his head and jingling 
spurs on his heels, wielding a large accordion and 
playing with earnestness and vigor. By his side was 
another Mexican. This latter had evidently taken 
full charge of the ceremonies. His wand of office was 
a vicious-looking blacksnake whip with which every 
now and again he fiercely beat the air. Then followed 
a large crowd of Mexican visitors, — men, women and 
children, all decked in their festival finery, who every 
year come to participate in this festival at Acoma. 
Now came a stalwart Acoma Indian bearing the pro- 
cessional cross, then the Governor and his officers, 
followed by the priest in his robes of office. Behind 
him, seated in a cabinet evidently made for the pur- 
pose and borne aloft over the heads of the bearers, 
was the wooden figure of Saint Stephen, taken down 
from its place on the altar. Over the figure of the 
saint a cloth canopy was held, the four corners of 



114 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

which were supported by staffs in the hands of four 
men. Then came the band of singers and the whole 
of the population, men, women and children. This 
procession solemnly wended its way up and down 
every street of the pueblo. 

Dr. James was busy photographing all the time 
and succeeded in getting a number of most interest- 
ing photographs. Following him, we were able to 
get in advance of the procession several times and 
thus have it pass us again and again in interesting 
review. At one time, while we were waiting its com- 
ing down the street at the corner of which we were 
standing, we were amazed to hear the accordion strike 
up with a good deal of fervor and vigor one of the 
popular dance-tunes which shortly before had been 
ground out from every hand-organ and mechanical- 
piano on the streets of our eastern cities. To us the 
effect seemed funny and incongruous in the highest, 
but the Mexicans and Indians heard in it nothing 
strange or peculiar and received the suggestive 
strains of the dance-tune with as much solemnity as 
if it had been the staidest hymn-tune ever written. 

In one of the main streets a small ramada or shel- 
ter had been built. It was constructed of poles, artis- 
tically and prettily covered with branches of beautiful 
green trees, — cottonwood, quaking aspen, pinion and 
juniper. Inside this ramada the figure of St. Stephen 
was placed, forming part of the rude altar which had 
already been prepared. Having thus escorted the 
figure of the saint to his shrine for the day, the pro- 
cession now disbanded. The priest retired and took 
his lon.^ delayed breakfast, for of course no priest is 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



115 



allowed to partake of food until after the mass has 
been celebrated, while the governor and principales 
sat down inside the bower, guarding the figure of the 
saint, and at the same time officially showing their 
respect for the ceremonies of the day. The proces- 







,..^^t^fl| 


f^A 


i^^^H 






n 


^H ^0^ 


m: 


IJI 


^^:- '^ 


■-4# 


"■^ ' i 


'h '/ 


4 yM 


'm*K ^•^ ^m 


■i • ■■ '^^i3?^^ 


^^' 


L^' 






*^ 


inj 



THE DANCE AT ACOMA, THE SINGING CHORUS IS SEEN TO THE 

LEFT 



sional cross was held outside by one of the sturdy 
young men and on the other side of the bower stood 
another young Indian bearing a loaded gun, as if to 
ward off all intruders. 

During the rest of the morning all the devout 
members of the tribe, men and women, came to pray 
at the little shrine, each one bringing some gift-offer- 
ing of bread, baked-meat, clothing, pottery, corn. 



116 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

melons, jewelry, or other article, all of which were 
deposited around the foot of the altar and left tliere. 
In the mean time Santiago must have retired to re- 
fresh himself. Anyhow, he disappeared for a time, 
after which he returned at intervals always accom- 
panied by the Mexican major-domo with the heavy 
rawhide whip. 

Soon after the noon hour the dances began and it 
required no explanation to see that these were a rem- 
nant of the old heathen part of the ceremonies upon 
which the civilized and Christian part had been 
grafted. The head-dresses of the women clearly sym- 
bolized the old time Acoma worship of the Sun, and 
Dr. James told us that the other symbols and the 
words of the songs which were sung showed that some 
of the dances were the ancient thanksgiving dances 
for the good things the people had received at the 
hands of Those Above, and also a prayer for rain. 
He showed us the s}Tnbols of the rainbow, the clouds, 
falling-rain, the planted corn, the same as the first 
blade sprang from the earth and its final ripe condi- 
tion. The men wore a kilt, or apron, reaching from 
the loin to knees, embroidered and fringed garters 
and moccasins. Dependent from the loins at the back 
was the skin of the silver gray fox, and around both 
arms above the elbow were tied twigs of juniper or 
pine. In the left hand more twigs were held, while in 
the right was the whitewashed gourd-rattle used in 
all ceremonial dances. Around each forehead was 
the inevitable handkerchief, and nearly all wore a 
shell and turquoise necklace. Their bodies and legs 
were nude, painted with an oxide of iron. The women 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 117 

on tlie other hand were bedecked with all the gor- 
geous finery they could muster. Jotsitz (robe), gir- 
dle, moccasins, leggings, necklaces, etc., that were too 
good for common use, or were especially made for 
this great occasion, were donned, and in addition, the 
peculiar symbolic headdress made of board or raw- 
hide which I have already described. To and fro 
they danced, the men two together, giving the singu- 
lar hippety-hop movement peculiar to Indian dances, 
and shaking their rattles, the women, likewise in 
twos, following in alternate order, gently waving 
bunches of wild flowers, and shuffling forward with 
their feet as the men hopped. On the other side of 
the street stood the fo^^^Z^es— drums— and the chorus, 
the leader occasionally making gestures, all of which 
were imitated by the singers, expressive of their 
thankfulness to ''Those Above." 

The dancing was done in relays, as it is no easy 
thing to keep up the strenuous and vigorous stepping 
of the Indian dances in the broiling hot sun for long 
at a time. Only those who have tried the peculiar 
step of the Indian dances know what hard work it 
is and how difficult. The time is kept by a statuesque 
old man whose wrinkled face shows that he has par- 
ticipated in these festivals for many generations. 
The tomhe is a wonderful old instrument, made per- 
haps six or seven centuries ago, by hollowing out a 
section of the solid trunk of a tree with the rude flint 
knife of the ancients. The two ends were then cov- 
ered with green rawhide on wiiich some of the hair 
was still allowed to remain, which were then laced 
together with green rawhide thongs. When these be- 



118 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

came dry they pulled the two drum-heads as taut as 
if they were stretched by the most approved methods 
of modern instrument makers. 

Tum, tum, tum, beat the drums, all in perfect 
time. Altogether as if they were controlled by ma- 
chinery, each man-dancer raises his right foot with 
a quick jerk to the height of eight or ten inches above 
the ground. The next moment, but all in time, he 
gives a tiny hitch forward or hop with his left foot, 
while the right foot is suspended in the air. Then 
bringing the right foot down, he lifts his left foot 
with the same quick jerk, following the movement 
with the tiny hop of the right foot. It is this little 
and almost imperceptible hop, following the main 
step, that gives the peculiar character to the Indian's 
dances. As the afternoon progressed and the fervor 
of the dancers increased, the step became higher and 
more vigorous and the little hitch of the other foot 
more marked. To dance such dances the Indians 
must need be athletes, as no others could possibly 
endure the physical labor for any length of time. 

THE STORY OF A ^^ CIVILIZED" INDIAN 

OiTR attention was particularly called to one young 
man who was apparently the most earnest and sin- 
cere dancer of them all. No one else lifted his feet 
as high as did he. No one gave the syncopated move- 
ment of the other foot so markedly as he. One would 
have thought he was the most devout, if the fervor of 
his dancing was any guide. While we were watching 
him, he looked up and caught the eye of Dr. James. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 119 

A peculiar smile came over his face, and the next 
moment, darting a flashing glance around to see 
whether lie was observed or not, his smile deepened 
into a broad grin, and then he gave a most decided 
wink to the doctor, at the same time, wdth a rapid 
glance to his feet, evidently calling attention to his 
emphatic dancing. 

We learned that he had been a student at the cele- 
brated government school at Carlisle, Pa., and other 
Indian schools, where he had been taught the ^Svhite 
man's w^ays." He had learned that the dances of his 
people were heathen ceremonies, full of foolish super- 
stition, and that civilization deemed such exhibitions 
altogether unnecessary and unworthy of an intelli- 
gent and progressive people. After several years 
of our kind of education the boy returned, as a young 
man, to the home of his forefathers. He w^as thor- 
oughly convinced of all his teachers had taught him 
and as he was of a brave and fearless type he did not 
hesitate to say so. Consequently when the next re- 
ligious dances w^ere held, he not only refused to par- 
ticipate in them, but openly and strongly condemned 
them as remnants of the foolish superstitions of his 
ancestors. He even openly made fun of those who 
did dance and loudly laughed and jeered wdien he w^as 
told that the vengeance of the ancient gods of the 
Acomas w^ould fall upon him. 

That night he was awakened out of a sound sleep 
to find himself in the hands of a dozen strong men, 
who gagged him, tied him hand and foot, and carried 
him down into one of the underground kivas. Here, 
sitting in a solemn conclave, were the governor and 



120 A LITTLE JOUEiNTEY TO 

all of the principales and the sliamans (or priests) of 
the various religious organizations of the Acomas. 
Trussed up like a dressed fowl, the now frightened 
youth was deposited in the center of the chamber, 
whose darkness was made only a little more notice- 
able by the dim light that came from the few coals 
on the center hearth. Solemnly and silently the old 
men smoked their cigarettes, as if meditating upon 
some important theme. The silence became more and 
more impressive. A half hour of it put a strange 
and sickening fear into the heart of the educated 
and civilized Indian. His teachers had not said any- 
thing about the possibility of anyone objecting to his 
change of opinion and his free expressions in regard 
to that change. It began to dawn upon him that his 
actions had not met with universal approval. 

Suddenly at a sign from the Governor, his bands 
were loosed and the gag removed from his mouth. 
The oldest medicine man then proceeded in a very 
calm but exceedingly impressive manner to inform 
him ^Hhat his irreverent words and conduct had not 
only deeply wounded the religious sentiments of the 
Acoma people, but if allowed to go unpunished, 
would bring upon the town and its people some severe 
visitation of Those Above. He had been to the white 
man's school, certainly, but white men did not know 
everything. They might know what was good for 
themselves, but they did not always know what was 
good for the Indian. For centuries the Acomas had 
been a highly favored people, cared for by the good- 
ness and wisdom of Those Above, but the gods were 
only to be propitiated by reverence and due observa- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



121 



tions of the old time methods of worship. To impress 
this fact upon the educated mind of the youth, it had 
been decided by those present that certain impres- 
sions should be made upon the young renegade's 
body." 

Immediately four of the most stalwart men 




JAMES MILLER (SEATED), WIFE AND BROTHER-IN-LAW 



sprang forward, tied the youth's hands above his 
head by means of a rawhide riata, which was then 
pulled over one of the overhead beams. It took four 
willing pairs of hands but a moment to stretch the 
rope tight so that the lad's toes just touched the 
ground and enabled him to keep himself from swing- 



122 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

ing. His blanket had fallen from him, exposing his 
entire nude body save for the G string around his 
loins. The next moment a rawhide whip was brought 
down with force and vigor upon the bronzed flesh 
to the rhythmic beating of the tomhe and the accom- 
paniment of the weird ^^song of punishment." 

When the now repentant youth was lowered to 
the ground, it was found that he had fainted, and it 
took several long weeks for the cruel wounds upon 
his back fully to heal. 

But he had learned his lesson. It was that the 
*Svays of the old" are not always to be changed in 
a few hours by the frivolous remarks of one who has 
received education in a different civilization. Some 
of the perpetrators of the whipping were afterwards 
arrested and imprisoned, but later, in speaking to us 
about it, James Miller, as this civilized Indian had 
been called at the white man's school, calmly in- 
formed us that he had found the only way for him to 
live was in conformity with the ancient habits of his 
people, and that the only way he could avert suspi- 
cion from himself was by being, as we had seen he 
was, the most earnest and vigorous dancer in the 
throng. 

THE INDIAN CHORUS 

But we have not yet taken a good look at the chorus. 
The leaders in this are young men dressed in snowy- 
white shirts and many of them wearing regular 
sombrero hats. A few have on colored calico shirts, 
with the usual headband of the Indian. They sing, 
in perfect time, a tune in rich, resonant voices which 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



123 



would be a joy to many a chorus-master if they were 
trained to present his civilized form of music. Some 
of their songs are quaint and queer, but others have 
a decidedly civilized sound, as if they had been 
learned from the Spanish priests of the days gone by. 




THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE GIFTS AT ACOMA, N. M. 



THE DISTEIBUTION OF THE GIFTS 



The dancing kept up until near the time of the 
setting-sun. Then all the crowd seemed to center 
in front of one of the house-tops on which the 
caciques or medicine men were seated, calmly smok- 
ing cigarettes and awaiting the arrival of someone. 
Almost simultaneouslv with our own arrival at the 



124 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

rear of the crowd, two stalwart young fellows, fol- 
lowed by two buxom Indian maidens, appeared, each 
laden down with the gifts that had been deposited 
during the day in front of the altar. Setting these down 
by the side of the caciques , they withdrew to watch 
the fun they knew would follow. The caciques arose, 
and, picking up the articles one by one, hurled them 
out into the midst of the crowd. One can imagine 
the shouts, yells and cheers that followed. A baked 
shoulder of mutton was followed by a half dozen 
loaves, baked in a peculiar mold to conform to cer- 
tain religious ideas. Pieces of red calico were 
whirled out, followed or preceded by a squash or 
watermelon. If either of the latter happened to miss 
the hands of its would-be catcher and was smashed 
in its fall, the jollity and merriment seemed only to 
be increased. The skill of the catchers was equaled 
only by the speed with which they disposed of that 
which they caught, each catcher evidently having an 
accomplice to carry what was caught, and with whom 
he doubtless shared his plunder later on. 

This merry scene continued until all the gifts 
were distributed, and that brought to a close the 
ceremonies of that particular day. 

AN EXTEMPORIZED PEEFORIMANCE 

It MIGHT have been so if we had not been there, but 
Dr. James and Father Juillard decided upon an 
extemporized addition to the Indian programme 
which, after supper, they proceeded to carry out. 
The former had brought with him fifty poimds of 
candy, which we had thought a rather large allow- 
ance for a band of school boys and girls (ourselves). 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 125 

We were now to learn why so much had been brought. 
Sending messengers to every house where there was 
a boy or girl old enough to walk, it was not long 
before Lorenzo's house was surrounded by a happy, 
shouting, gesticulating mob of Acoma youngsters, 
and the scrambling process of a short time ago was 
repeated; but the gifts this time were the clulces 
(sweets) of the white man. And rapidly we saw 
what we thought were our sweets thrown to these 
Indians. In the meantime. Father Juillard had 
brought out from its case a fine silver cornet, upon 
which instrument he was a master player. Stepping 
to the doorway, he led the air while Dr. James taught 
the assembled youngsters, we helping him with our 
voices, the two well-known American songs, ''John 
Brown's Body" and ^'Marching Through Georgia." 
Then, lining up the youngsters for a procession, of 
which we formed the disreputable tail, led by the 
cornet, the whole mob of us started to procession the 
town, singing these two songs, just as the religious 
procession had marched through the town in the 
morning. In a few moments every housetop had its 
Indian occupants, and smiling bronzed faces of papas 
and mamas, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandpas, 
were waving and shouting greetings to the happy, 
boisterous band of youngsters and the jolly-hearted 
priest and the white men who were making a festival 
for the little ones. At first, Professor and Mrs. 
Young expressed a fear lest the feelings of the 
Indians should be hurt by what they might regard 
as a caricature or travesty on their own procession ; 
but the padre and Dr. James knew the Indians too 



126 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

well to run the risk of giving any such offense. 
Everybody was delighted. Everybody was radiantly 
happy. Everybody thought it a grand conclusion to 
the interesting and happy day. 

But even when all the children had been dismissed 
and we had returned to Lorenzo's house, we found 
the programme was not yet completed. Tata Lorenzo 
had so enjoyed the playing of the cornet that he had 
requested the padre to give him and his family a little 
more music. Gladly the genial padre responded to 
his request, and for an hour or more played all kinds 
of American, French and other airs in which we 
now and again joined in chorus. Some of the songs 
were college songs, and in this our artist friend, Mr. 
Simmons, so heartily joined that before long he was 
^* acting up" and frolicking as college boys generally 
do when they are having a fine time. He and Tata 
Lorenzo were already great friends, and it must have 
been the very opposite of their character that had 
bound them together. Tata Lorenzo was the most 
solemn, dignified, stately Indian we met on the wdiole 
trip ; while Mr. Simmons was of that excitable, viva- 
cious, jolly temperament that made fun of, for and 
with everything and everybody. Yet it mattered not 
what he did, his every act seemed to meet the approval 
of Lorenzo, and now, all at once, he started a fan- 
tastic, dramatic representation of that wild, foolish, 
frivolous and ridiculous song, ^^The Wild Man of 
Borneo Has Just Come to Town." Thrusting his 
fingers through his long hair and making it stand 
on end, turning up his coat collar and acting like a 
veritable wild man, dancing and gesticulating with 



SOME STRANGE PLx\CES AND PEOPLES 127 

a fantastic ferocity and vigor that only a wild 
African could liave emulated, he sung in inimitable 
style this excruciatingly ridiculous thing — that is, it 
was excruciatingly ridiculous as he sung it. In front 
of him sat the dignified Lorenzo. Advancing towards 
him, retreating from him, dancing to the right and 
left of him, making all kinds of dramatic gestures, 
couth and uncouth, he sang until the rest of us were 
simply hysterical ^^itli laughter. Without a change 
of facial expression to signify what he thought, the 
immobile Indian sat looking and listening, and only 
at the conclusion of the song, his hearty congratula- 
tions as he arose and his patting of his white friend 
on the back, affectionately putting his arm around 
him, showed how sincerely he meant it when in his 
simple way he exclaimed in Spanish, ''Esta hueno! 
Esta mucJio hueno!'' 

We could well have spent a month at Acoma, 
but the places ahead of us were made alluring 
and attractive by the brief descriptions every now 
and again poured into our willing ears by Dr. James. 
So, reluctantly, we left our most hospitable, kind and 
interesting host and his family and the many friends 
we felt we had made in Acoma. Driving back to 
Laguna, we had another good look at the Enchanted 
Mesa, riding all around it and thinking of its strange 
history, and we then took a train for Grants, only 
thirty miles farther on. 

Soon after leaving Laguna we saw large masses 
of a dark, black rock on each side of the track. 
These, we were told, were the great lava flows of 
New Mexico. This whole region is covered with 



128 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



signs of volcanic activity, of several different periods. 
The geologists tell us many interesting things about 
what they read in the cold, black rocks. 

On our arrival at Grants we found nothing but a 
Mexican and Indian trading store, occupied by a 
garrulous Jew, who treated us very hospitably, and 



!-K*^;^^: 




:^^^^H^Kr'^,^.^p-^, 



LAVA FLOW NEAR GRANTS, N. M. 



two or three Mexican adobes. On the hills near by 
were three or four Navaho hogans. From this point, 
however, we were to visit several interesting places, 
including San Mateo, San Rafael, Inscription Rock, 
and Zuni. 

A HISTORIC WATER-EOCK 

San Mateo is one of the most Mexican towns within 
the borders of the United States, Here scarcely half 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 129 

a dozen people could be found who spoke English. 
We were invited to the home of Don Ramon Chaves, 
the son of one of the old Spanish dons, Manuel 
Antonio Chaves, who lived here in great power prior 
to the time when New Mexico became a part of the 
United States. 

Here we found two most interesting photographs. 
One was of Don Manuel himself, showing a fine, 
striking face, with large, luminous eyes, over-arching 
forehead, mobile lips, and strong but friendly chin, 
speaking clearly of the man of dignity, character 
and power. The other portrait was of his wife, who 
was great-granddaughter of a famous Spanish soldier 
who, like Don Manuel's father, settled in New 
Mexico nearly two centuries ago. 

The history of Don Manuel is as fascinating as 
a romance. He was born at the town of Atrisco, on 
the west side of the Rio Grande, opposite the present 
city of Albuquerque, on the 18th day of October, 1818. 
This house in which he lived was built by him. 

It was Don Manuel's son, Ramon, who had invited 
us to San Mateo, and he had sent two wagons and 
several saddle-horses to meet us at Grants, to convey 
us the sixteen miles across country over which we 
had to travel. It was a happy and jolly crowd that 
piled into the wagons, mixed up with our baggage 
and camp outfit. For each of us had a roll of bed- 
ding, done up in canvas, and we were now going to 
use it for actually camping out in the open air. 

What fun we had on that drive ! Nobody seemed 
to be in a hurry, and we were having too much jollity 
to care. Some of the horses balked, and one of them 



130 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



didn't want to go our way, and the drivers seemed 
to be at their wit's end. Dr. James wickedly said 
that was because we girls were there and the Mexican 
drivers couldn 't swear as they wished to. 




THE WATER POCKET WHERE DON MANUEL CHAVES FOUND 
WATER AND THUS SAVED HIS LIFE 



A few miles from Grants station we left the road 
in order that we might see a spot that we could have 
hunted for fifty years and never have found. It was 
a remarkable cliff or tremendous mass of red sand- 
stone, up which it was no easy matter to climb. On 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 131 

the top the erosive forces of nature had scooped oat 
of the sandstone a large bowl with several smaller 
ones that would hold many gallons of water. There 
was water in it when we saw it, but who could ever 
have dreamed that, in this sandy desert, there was a 
reservoir of pure rain-water lifted up like a giant 
drinking-eup waiting to be filled at each rainstorm! 
It looked innocent enough, but to show us how impor- 
tant the knowledge of the location of such an unusual 
water-pocket could be. Dr. James told us the fol- 
lowing romantic story of Don Manuel : 

^7hen he was sixteen years of age, his oldest 
brother, Jose, was made commander of an expedition 
of fifty young men, who left the town of Cebolleta 
(where the Chaves family then lived, there being no 
San Mateo at that time) . The expedition was planned 
for the purpose of punishing the Navahoes, who for 
many years had been in the habit of waging war 
upon the Xew Mexicans, robbing them of their horses 
and sheep and stealing their children, whom they 
took and kept in captivity. 

It was their expectation that they would find the 
Navahoes, as was their wont, in isolated bands 
throughout the country which they regarded as their 
own. But in this expectation they were sadly dis- 
appointed. They marched for a number of days 
without meeting a single Indian, and at last finding 
the trail of a small band, they followed it, antici- 
pating a short conflict and a speedy victory. Not 
being as careful as they should have been, they sent 
no scouts ahead, and, almost before they were aware, 
they had entered the heart of Canyon de Chelly, 



132 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

where several thousands of Indians were gathered 
for the purpose of holding one of their great feasts 
and ceremonial dances. The Mexicans were too near 
the Indians when they were discovered to allow them 
either to form in battle array or to retreat. The 
result was that, although every man of the expedition 
proved himself a hero and fought with the despera- 
tion of despair, they were so overwhelmed with 
numbers that there was no possible chance of escape. 
It was a desperate hand-to-hand conflict, and the 
close of the day saw what appeared to be the dead 
body of every man of the expedition. Manuel's 
brother was slain outright, and Manuel himself 
received seven arrow wounds, one arrow having 
pierced his body through. 

Rejoicing in their great victory, the ISTavahoes 
moved a mile or two away from the battle-field to 
continue their dances, and that proved to be Manuel's 
salvation. For he recovered consciousness during the 
night, plucked out the arrows from his wounds, and, 
though scarcely able to stagger, began to hunt among 
the dead for the body of his brother. Whilst doing 
this, another member of the party returned to con- 
sciousness. It was a civilized Navaho boy who had 
accompanied the expedition from Cebolleta. This 
boy had been severely wounded early in the conflict, 
but had managed to hide himself in the rocks at one 
side of the canyon. Finding the Indians gone, he 
came out and assisted Manuel in his search for his 
brother. When the dead body Avas found they buried 
it in the sand. They then decided to escape and find 
their way back to Cebolleta. Summoning all their 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 133 

will-power and strength, they started homewards. 
But, as they had no means of carrying water, and 
knew they would have to have some to sustain life, 
they were compelled to take a round-about journey 
and aim for a spring known as Ojo del Osos (The 
Spring of the Bears), which is on the site of, and 
still sup23lies water to the officers and soldiers at, 
what is now^ Fort Wingate. They arrived here 
parched and almost dead from thirst. Manuel knew 
that caution would be necessary in drinking, and he 
begged his companion to be careful and drink mod- 
erately, but the poor lad's thirst overcame his good 
judgment and he drank to excess. Manuel also 
jumped into the spring. While the water set his 
wounds to bleeding afresh, the stimulus of the bath 
was of great benefit to him. The Indian boy, how- 
ever, refused to bathe, and, instead, plugged up his 
wounds wdth the fluffy material picked from the 
inside of his moccasins. Then they stretched out and 
slept. When Manuel awoke in the morning he felt 
wonderfully strengthened and refreshed, but to his 
great distress his companion lay dead by his side, 
bloated and distorted. Reluctantly he was compelled 
to leave the dead body, as he had neither strength nor 
tools to bury it with, and, with a further saddened 
heart, started again for home. 

But he was still in the heart of a hostile country, 
and home was many, many miles away. As he had 
no means of carrying water, he scarcely deemed it 
possible to sustain life without it until he reached 
Cebolleta, but he determined to do his best and 
struggle on. Weary and exhausted at the close of 



134 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

the day, lie felt he must secure water or perish. Next 
morning as he early began his efforts, he came to an 
Indian trail which he was impelled to follow. It led 
directly to this rock. With great difficulty he climbed 
the steep sides, and there, to his intense delight, he 
found an abundant supply of water. It was pure, 
clear and cold, and he drank until he was satisfied. 
With renewed strength he continued homewards, 
and that night slept in a beautiful valley, under the 
shelter of some live-oak trees, and there vowed that 
if God in His goodness spared his life he would 
build a chapel for His worship. 

The next day he saw the smoke of what he guessed 
to be the camp-fire of Mexican shepherds on the San 
Mateo mountains, and, succeeding in attracting their 
attention, they came to his rescue. Constructing a 
rude litter, they tenderly carried him to Ceboletta, 
where his naturally rugged constitution soon enabled 
him to recover. 

He grew to a valiant manhood and ere long 
became known as one of the bravest Indian fighters 
of New Mexico, a reputation he maintained until his 
death, having led many successful expeditions against 
the Navahoes. When General Kearny marched upon 
Santa Fe he was one of the Mexican patriots who 
would have fought to arrest his progress, but when 
Governor Ami jo declined to fire a shot in defense 
of his country, Chaves was not long in declaring his 
allegiance to the United States, a pledge he most 
faithfully and honorably kept. 

In the year 1876 — over forty years after his 
escape from the Navahoes — he moved to San Mateo, 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



135 



and built the house where we were guests, within a 
hundred feet of the oak trees that had given him 
such friendly shelter on that occasion, and there, just 
behind the trees, he built the chapel of his vow. In 
this chapel lie his remains, and here a few years ago 
Dr. James was present at the burial of his wife, who 
survived him many years. 




THE TOWN OF SAN MATEO, N. M. 



On our arrival at San Mateo we were at once 
given a glimpse of genuine Mexican life, for the 
Spaniards and Mexicans live here today in actually 
the same manner as if they were in the heart of 
Mexico. Practically nothing is changed, and their 
customs are as they have been from time immemorial. 

It had all been arranged beforehand that we were 
to eat nothing but Mexican dishes, hear nothing but 
Spanish music and songs, and listen to nothing but 



136 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

Spanish and Mexican stories. We stayed here for 
four happy days and got most interesting glimpses 
of a civilization of which we had hitherto known 
nothing, never dreaming that there was anything of 
the kind existent within the borders of our United 
States. 

The house was a large squarish structure built of 
adobe (which latter word, by the way, is not pro- 
nounced a-dob, but in three syllables, thus, a-do-by) . 
It had a flat roof, from which wooden gutters ran 
to carry ofl the rain. The walls were plastered over 
with adobe and then whitewashed. The people who 
live in them tell us that they are better than any other 
kind of house, as they are warm in winter and cool 
in summer. The rooms were large and comfortable, 
and the bedroom in which four of us girls were 
placed was most interesting. We slept on old- 
fashioned bedsteads, but for counterpanes we had 
priceless Navaho blankets, blankets that have a his- 
tor}^, and were made, perhaps, over a hundred years 
ago. There was the quaintest little fireplace in one 
corner, and before we were allowed to get up in the 
morning one of the many Mexican women servants 
of the place came in and built us a fire of wood that 
crackled and sparkled while we dressed. 

One day we spent in visiting the homes of the 
people; another day we went up to see the morada 
of the penitentes, for they are very strong here at 
San Mateo, and still carry on their interesting but 
dreadful ceremonies. Then, delight of delights, our 
generous host arranged for us on the following day 
to ride horseback to the summit of Mount San Mateo, 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 137 

and, what was more, lie planned that we should stay 
out over night and sleep in our blankets under the 
stars, regular camp-out fashion, as the sheep-herders 
and cowboys do, and that we should have supper and 
breakfast cooked by the camp-fire. 

Mount San Mateo is one of the noted mountains 
of New Mexico. It is called Tso-tsil by the Nava- 
hoes, and is one of their most sacred mountains. 
Many of their legends and myths are connected 
with it. It is 11,389 feet high, and although called 
San Mateo by the Mexicans, on September 18, 1849, 
it was named Mount Ta3dor by Lieutenant J. H. 
Simpson, of the United States Army, in honor of 
the then President of the United States. On the 
m.ap of the Geological Survey, the whole mass is 
known as Mount San Mateo, while the name given 
by Lieutenant Simpson is apiDlied only to the highest 
peak. The Navahoes regard this mountain as the 
boundary of their country on the south, although at 
the present day some of their tribe live south of it. 
The San Francisco mountains form the boundary of 
their country on the West. 

To the geologist this is a most interesting pile. 
Major C. E. Dutton, of the United States Geological 
Survey, has written one of his prose-poem mono- 
graphs upon this mountain and its surroundings, in 
which he thus speaks of the lava-flows of the region : 

^^The ages of these eruptions vary greatly. Some 
are as old, probably, as Middle Eocene time ; others 
are so recent that it seems almost certain that they 
occurred within the last thousand years, and there 
is no intrinsic improbability that some of the earliest 



138 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

Spanish visitors may have witnessed them, though 
they have left us no records." 

But to us the chief matter of interest was that 
on the very summit of this majestic-looking moun- 
tain was the sacred prayer-spring of the Indians, 
and that at certain intervals in the year the Indians 
come here to pray for rain. The fact that at certain 
times of the year a spring of water, or what appears 
to be such, is to be found, combined with the memo- 
ries of its fiery vomit, has led them to regard it with 
13eculiar veneration. Not only Zunis, but Acomas, 
Lagunas, Navahoes, and Hopis go here to beseech 
^' Those Above" to send them rain. For, to them, 
living as they do in a dreary, barren, desolate land, 
water is one of the chief necessities of life, and many 
of their ceremonials and dances owe their origin to 
this need of rain. Just before the summer closes is 
the time for prayer. Certain shamans^ or medicine 
men, are selected. These generally belong to some 
family or clan that has shown marked ability in the 
production of rain in the past. For with the Indian, 
as with the white man, ^^ Nothing succeeds like suc- 
cess." The medicine man who expects patients must 
show cures, and so the shaman who looks for faith 
in the people who hear his prayers and supplications 
and witness his incantations, must show results. 

Sometimes the sliamans of the Navahoes will go 
to Mount San Mateo alone. The Zunis and Acomas 
have had rain and do not need to pray for it ; and 
why waste prayers and ceremonies when ^^ Those 
Above" are good without them'? Again, it will be 
the Acomas who go alone, or the Zunis, or the 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 139 

Lagunas, or the Apaches. Very rarely do they all 
appear together. Five years ago was a period of 
drought for the wliole country, and two or three 
shamans from eacli tribe, each in his own way, made 
most fervent prayers that rain might be sent in every 
direction. 

See these devout men — wild savages though they 
appear — as they solemnly ride, some from the east, 
some from the north, some from the south, and some 
from the west, by their respective trails to the moun- 
tain's summit! Each one shows that he feels the 
importance of his errand. He is serious, earnest, 
dignified. 

Arrived on the rocky summit, he awaits the 
others, and when all are there the preparations begin. 
First of all, the b alios or prayer-sticks must be made. 
These are small sticks of Cottonwood, painted in cer- 
tain conventional colors, generally blue and green, to 
which feathers are tied with strings of native cotton. 
Then, carefully wrapped up in a corn husk, a small 
pinch of Iwddcntin — the sacred corn-meal of the 
Indian — is fastened to the stick, and, after being 
smoked over and prayed over, with petitions to the 
powers of good and evil in all the six cardinal 
points — north, west, south, east, up, and down — not 
to interfere with their efficacy, the prayer-sticks 
are ready. 

Now the sliamans robe themselves in their cere- 
monial costumes. Each man bedecks himself in 
special rain-charms, amulets, fetiches. They all have 
something or other that in times past has proved to 
be *^good medicine." 



140 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

One old shaman is recognized as master of cere- 
monies, or head priest. He gives autocratic direc- 
tions, and never are his orders or words questioned. 
Reverently kneeling, the shamans all surround the 
prayer-spring. The leader softly prays that no man 
may pray wrongly or selfishly. He asks that every- 
thing may be offered from pure hearts. ^^ Those 
Above" have been very good in the past. They have 
cared for their children on the earth. These shamans 
have now come to offer their petition for rain, that the 
corn may grow and everything have its natural 
increase. He then smokes the sacred pipe, and each 
shaman in turn makes the smoke and puffs it to the 
six cardinal points. Then, all still kneeling, a prayer- 
song is quietly chanted, after which the dance begins. 
Softly at first, growing louder as it proceeds, each 
shaman sings as he dances. This general dance con- 
tinues for quite a time, and afterwards each shaman 
has his own individual prayer, song, and dance. 

For four days these ceremonies continue, and 
then, ere they leave the spring, each shaman digs a 
channel in the direction of his home — one towards 
the Navaho country, one towards the Zuni region, 
one towards Acoma, etc., and, that ^^ Those Above" 
cannot possible forget that rain is needed in all these 
directions, prayer-sticks are planted on each side of 
these channels. 

Think of the simple hearts! ^^ Those Above" 
have power to send the rain, and their memories are 
treacherous and imperfect and they must be reminded 
of the needs of all the people ! 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 141 

TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT SAN MATEO 

It WAS a beautiful morning when we started. What 
a lot of fun we had in choosing horses, and of course 
we all had to ride astride. The idea of the side- 
saddle had never entered into the minds of these 




MOUNT SAN MATEO, N. M. 



simple-hearted people. We had great fun watching 
the Mexicans pack the mules and burros that were 
to take our provisions, cooking utensils and bedding. 
Very fortunately, as it afterwards transpired, our 
guide insisted upon sending up several large pieces 
of canvas which the Mexicans were going to leave 
behind. When we were all ready, stirrups adjusted, 



142 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

and each of us provided with a little switch to act 
as a persuader for our ponies if they became refrac- 
tory, our caravan started. The sky was absolutely 
cloudless, the air was still, the weather serene, and it 
seemed as if we were going to have one of the most 
delightful of excursions. 

To attempt to describe the ride and the number- 
less outlooks as we ascended higher and higher 
would be altogether beyond my feeble powers of 
description. There were some most beautiful groves 
of quaking aspen, and several times the trail wound 
where fat-looking cattle grazed contentedly, looking 
up at us with eyes full of surprise as we passed by. 
When we reached the summit, Dr. James pointed 
out to us a number of most interesting features in 
the country round about, and promised to tell us, 
that night as we sat around the camp-fire, the Navaho 
legends in regard to them. One great flow of black- 
looking lava, which he said had one time poured out 
from the open crater near where we were, the Nava- 
hoes called ^'the blood of Yeitso," one of their myth- 
ical hideous cannibalistic monsters who, according to 
their legend, was slain near here. ISTot much farther 
away was a peak which the Mexicans called El 
Cabazon, and this the Navahoes believe to be the 
head of Yeitso, placed there after he was slain by 
their hero gods. Not far away, to the east, we could 
clearly see the silver path of the Rio Grande winding 
its way to the south, while in the far away western 
horizon were the San Francisco mountains, the 
Do-ko-tslid of the Navahoes. 

But our chief interest centered around the prayer- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 143 

spring. Just as we had been told, we found a natural 
basin on the summit. At this time it was practically 
dry, although we could see that there were times when 
it was full of water. The Mexicans said that if we 
were to dig there even now we should find water. All 
around the bow] were stuck into the ground little 
wooden pegs to which neatly wrapped corn-husks full 
of corn-meal, with two or three feathers, were tied. 
These were the haJws — often spelled pahos; for the 
pronunciation sometimes seems to be one and some- 
times the other — or prayer-sticks that all Indians 
use in their prayers. We gathered quite a number 
of them, for there must liaA^e been hundreds. Each 
of us had quite a batch. In addition, we found a 
number of wampum beads made from shell, and 
many beautiful pieces of turquoise through which 
a hole had been bored, showing that they likewise 
had been used on strings of beads. 

That night we all helped provide supper, for we 
were ravenously hungry. Almost as soon as the pack- 
mules reached the summit, one of the Mexicans had 
built a fire and put on their big kettle of frijolcs — 
the delicious red bean of the Mexicans; and when 
they were pretty well cooked he had sliced into them 
several onions, tomatoes, and some red pepper. 

Now we were to have a specimen of Dr. James's 
cooking of biscuits on the camp-fire. A large bread- 
pan and a full sack of flour had been brought up. 
Four iron Dutch ovens had been sent up. Just think 
of it! Those dear, good Spaniards had gone to all 
this trouble simply to give us school-children the 
pleasant experience of eating hot biscuit made over 



144 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

a camp-fire and cooked in a Dutch oven, on tlie 
summit of a mountain about twelve thousand feet 
liigli, in the heart of what we liad always considered 
a desert. Such hospitality was never heard of. You 
can rest assured there was a great deal of interest 
and curiosity, as well as sly laughter and humor, 
when Dr. James took ofl his coat and got ready to 
make the biscuit. One of the girls asked him if he 
was not going to wash his hands. He replied, *^Yes, 
I am; and I am going to show you how the moun- 
taineer and plainsman use a canteen when washing 
their hands." Taking a cake of soap out of the box, 
he lifted up the canteen, unscrewed the top, then held 
the vessel between his knees, with the open top of 
the canteen so tilted that when he jerked his knees 
forward a little of the water came out into his open 
hands. After he had well-lathered and washed his 
hands, a few more jerks of the knees sent out enough 
water to thoroughly rinse them, and he was ready to 
go to work. 

Somehow, he didn't seem embarrassed at all. He 
went to work just as if he knew how. Yet he didn't 
weigh the flour, nor did he cautiously measure the 
baking-powder. He seemed to know just how much 
to use. By his side he had two cans of unsweetened 
condensed milk, and as he poured in the water he 
added the milk, stirring the flour and baking-powder 
very vigorously while he poured in the two liquids. 
He had already placed the four Dutch ovens on beds 
of live coals which he had scraped away from the 
main camp-fire. In each Dutch oven was placed a 
fair-sized chunk of fat mutton, which was already 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 145 

sizzling and spattering in the heat. Then, without 
any attempt at kneading, he dropped large spoonfuls 
of the well-mixed dough into the hot fat until the 
space was covered. Another oven was filled almost 
as quickly as I am telling the story, and yet another, 
and finally the fourth. In the meantime one of the 
Mexicans had put the iron lid upon the first oven, 
and with a shovel had covered it with hot ashes. The 
three ovens were treated in like fashion, and then 
the Doctor turned his attention to the frying-pans, 
in which he quickly placed slices of ham, bacon, 
venison and mutton-chops, all of which our kindly 
host had sent up from the valley below. How deli- 
cious it smelled on that mountain height! A big 
kettle of potatoes was also cooking, and two steaming 
gallon cans of coifee. For those who did not want 
coffee, there was an equally large can of cocoa. 

OUR MOUXTAIN SUPPER 

Where were we going to eat ? No sooner was the 
question asked than we began to understand why 
Dr. James had sent up some of the canvas that the 
Mexicans were going to leave below. One large square 
was spread out a little distance from the fire, and 
yet near enough to feel the warmth, and we girls 
were put to work to place the cups, knives, forks, 
spoons and agateware plates, which were so deep 
they looked like soup dishes. We had scarcely done 
the work when the Dutch ovens were opened, the 
lids being lifted off by a long stick, and the biscuits 
were found as brown and delicious as they could be. 



146 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

These were put down on the canvas so that they might 
be within easy reach of all. Cans of sugar and salt 
were also placed on the canvas, with several cans of 
condensed milk, in the tops of which two holes had 
been thrust, one small, to let the air in, and the other 
one a little larger, out of which the milk was to be 
poured. 

Then with a loud yell the Doctor called us to take 
our places. We needed no second urging. With 
frying-pan in hand, he marched around the canvas, 
followed by his three Mexican assistants, each with 
a frying-pan, — one with ham, one with bacon, one 
with venison, and one with mutton-chops. There 
was no waiting to decide. We had to decide quick 
as a flash, or we were passed by; and before we 
could consider, the four returned to us again, one 
with the pot of potatoes, the second with the beans, 
made delicious and savory with the onions, tomatoes 
and chili; while the two others required us to hold 
up our cups to be filled with either coffee or cocoa. 
It was done so quickly that we were all served almost 
before we could think. And we were scarcely served 
before we set to work. What a meal it was! How 
we ate, and joked each other about our ferocious 
appetites ; and how we laughed and drank coffee and 
cocoa, and called for more, and devoured those deli- 
cious biscuits ! The Doctor had no chance to eat, for 
he had to go to work and make up another batch, 
they disappeared so speedily ; but I noticed he made 
up for it when he did sit down, though he had given 
us a pretty serious talk about eating so rapidly, 
and had urged us to Fletcherize our food. If he 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 147 

Fletcherized, he did it, as one of the boys said, hy 
^'champing extra fast." 

After supper a cry came for vohmteers to wash 
dishes. AVater ah-cady was boiling, with a bucket of 
cold water brought up by one of the Mexicans from 
a spring a little lower down on the mountain. It did 
not take long to ^^ polish off" the work. As soon as 
everything was properly dried, the dishes, etc. w^ere 
placed in clean sacks brought up for that purpose, 
and put back into the kyaxes, to be ready for break- 
fast; and then we all rushed in different directions 
to bring back each one an armful of wood for 
the camp-lire, or, in the case of the boys, to drag 
trunks and branches as big as they were able to 
handle. We built up a tremendous bonfire, and by 
this time night was beginning to close in rapidly. 
Bringing up our rolls of bedding to sit on, we now 
surrounded the blazing fire and huddled together 
near enough to hear the Navaho legend which 
Dr. James had promised to give. First of all he 
gave us a little history of the Navahoes. 

THE NAVAHO INDIANS 

The Navahoes are one of the most interesting 
Indian tribes of the Southwest. Where they got the 
name Navaho, it is rather hard to tell. It is not their 
own name for themselves, and the first time it is 
known to occur in literature is after the Spaniards 
came, in 1540, when this tribe was called the Navaho- 
Apaches. They are regarded as a portion of the 
great Tinneh family of Indians, who came into this 



148 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

regiou from Alaska; but in the origin-legend, part 
of which story I am going to tell you, they s]3eak 
of themselves as a cosmopolite people, made up of 
many different stocks, even including the great 
Pueblos. 

Their reservation is partially in New Mexico 
and partially in Arizona. When the trains reach the 
neighborhood of Fort Wingate, just after descending 
the Continental Divide, the eastern border of the 
reservation is almost due north. It then extends 
westward until its western limit is reached, about in 
a line due north from Flagstaff. To the north it 
overlaps the Hopi reservation, which extends about 
parallel with Holbrook on the east and Canyon 
Diablo on the west. 

Perhaps there is no other tribe of Indians in 
America that is ^^ holding its own" in population 
as is the Navaho. The census of 1890 gave them a 
population of 17,204, but there was some doubt cast 
upon the accuracy of these figures. In round num- 
bers, it is now generally believed there are about 
twenty thousand of them. 

As a people they are independent, honest, truth- 
ful ; reliable in their dealings with the whites ; make 
good husbands and fathers; but are warlike, and 
quick to resent an injury, a slight, or wdiat they 
regard as an unjust encroachment upon their rights. 
There is many a white man, I am satisfied, who has 
paid the forfeit with his life in open, frank warfare 
with a ISTavaho because he had insulted him under the 
common American notion that he was nothing but a 
savage. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 149 

Their women are wonderful blanket-weavers, 
and in liidden nooks of quiet canyons, or in the open, 
by the side of their rude ho-gdns, may be seen, all 
over their reservations, special shacks in which they 
have erected the rude looms, of home manufacture, 
on which their blankets are made. The older weaves 




Cnii; ligbl by George Wbarttm .Jnun'S 

A NAVAHO BLANKET WEAVER 

are much prized by collectors, esi^ecially those that 
were colored with native dyes. The Navaho women 
formerly used only three dyes. These were red, 
blue, and old gold green. They got the white and 
black wool direct from the sheep, and mixed them 
to make gray, so that in reality they had six colors. 
Their designs, while primitive, had direct signifi- 



150 A LITTLE JOURXEY TO 

cance to the weaver, every pattern introduced being 
a sign or symbol that made the blanket the record of 
the weaver's thought or emotion at the time of 
weaving. 

The men are expert but rude silversmiths, making 
buckles, bracelets, rings, etc., which are now quite 
popular with the whites. 

*The Navahoes are wonderful story-tellers, and 
some of their legends are quaint, interesting, beauti- 
ful and instructive. These four adjectives may seem 
to be carelessly chosen, but they are not. They truth- 
fully designate these stories. Naturally, when one 
gets a real peep into the mind of the Indian, his 
methods of thought are quaint. And in these legends 
this quaintness is enhanced by the fact that the stories 
are old and have all that peculiar flavor that belongs 
to stories that have been handed do^^n for many 
hundreds of years. And how can the stories that 
account for their origin, which are entirely different 
from our origin stories, be other than interesting to 
those who like to know how the human mind works 
with different people, influenced by their own pecu- 
liar environment? That some parts of their stories 
are horrible may be expected, for they deal with the 
primitive instincts of man, where cruelty, even to 
murder, is no uncommon thing, and blood is made to 
flow freely. But just as the fierce thunder and light- 
ning storm is often followed by the most exquisite 
and tender sky-effects, so are these harsh and bloody 
stories preceded and followed by revelations of ex- 

* This story is taken from Dr. W. Matthews 's " Navaho Legends," 
published by the Folk-Lore Society. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 151 

quisite tenderness, gentleness, kindness and love. 
The instructiveness of these legends is in the oppor- 
tunity they afford for the student to see the working 
of the primitive mind. The human mind is subject 
to laws of development exactly as is the body, and it 
has grown up from its childhood just as each man has 
grown up from babyhood. In studying these Indian 
stories we are getting back to the period of the child- 
mind of the race, and such revelations are found to be 
in the highest degree instructive. 

To tell the whole story of the origin of the 
Navahoes would fill a good-sized book. The first 
part of the legend tells of the emergence of the people 
from the four lower worlds into the fifth world. The 
second part tells of their experience in the fifth world. 
The third part tells of the war-gods ; the fourth, of 
the growth of the Navaho nation. 

It is in the third part that we learn the story of 
Yeitso, who was slain by two heroes of the tribe, who 
cut off his head and placed it to the east of Mount 
San Mateo, where it is known as Cabezon and where 
the lava flow is regarded as the flow of his blood. 

Soon after these two boys were born, while their 
mothers were baking corn-cakes, Yeitso, the tallest 
and flercest of the alien gods of the Navahoes, 
appeared, walking rapidly towards the ho-gdn. 
Knowing that he was a fierce cannibal and would 
slay and eat their children, one of the mothers hastily 
grabbed them up, earnestly cautioning them to be 
perfectly silent, and hid them away in the bushes, 
under some bundles and sticks. Yeitso came and 
sat down at the door just as the women were taking 



152 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

the cakes out of the ashes. He wanted one of the 
cakes, but the women refused it. ^* Never mind," 
said Yeitso, *^I would rather eat boys. Where are 
your boys? I have been told you have some here, 
and have come to get them." Putting Yeitso off as 
well as they could, they finally made him believe that 
there were no boys around. 

It was not very long after he had gone before 
one of the women, having to go to the top of a nearby 
hill, saw a number of these alien gods hastening 
towards their hog an from all directions. Hurrying 
down, in great distress she told her sister. This 
sister had magical power, and, picking up four 
colored hoops, she threw the white one to the east, the 
blue one to the south, the yellow one to the west, and 
the black one to the north. These magic hoops pro- 
duced a great gale, which blew so fiercely in all direc- 
tions from the liogan that even the great power of 
the alien gods was not sufficient to allow them to 
approach it. 

The two boys that Yeitso was hunting were little 
fellows of superhuman origin, and, having no fathers 
as other boys had, were curious to find their fathers, 
and, in spite of the prohibitions of their mothers, 
would keep journeying first in one direction and then 
in another, determined to find their fathers. Their 
adventures were far more peculiar and strange than 
those related in ^^ Alice in Wonderland." Indeed, 
when it comes to invention, the author of this popu- 
lar white child's book is only a beginner compared 
with these expert Navaho story-tellers. 

How I should like to tell vou of their visit to the 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 153 

underworld, where they found the * ' Spider- Woman. ' ' 
She it was who gave them their magic charms and 
taught them many magic formulae. One of these 
explains why the Navahoes gather and use so much 
pollen in their ceremonies. Pollen, while plentiful 
in the aggregate, is very light, airy, floating stuff, 
and exceedingly difficult to gather. Yet the Navaho 
medicine men are indefatigable in procuring certain 
kinds of pollen at certain times of the year when the 
moon is in certain exact locations. 

When these boys met their giant enemies, all they 
had to do was to sprinkle towards them some certain 
kind of pollen and then repeat this formula: ^'Put 
your feet down with pollen. Put your hands down 
with pollen. Put your head down with pollen. Then 
your feet are pollen; your hands are pollen; your 
body is pollen; your mind is pollen; your voice is 
pollen. The trail is beautiful. Be still." 

Here is one of the incidents that occurred as the 
two boys left the house of the Spider-Woman. They 
came to the place known as ^^Tse'yeinti'li" (the 
rocks that crush). There was here a narrow chasm 
between two high cliffs. When a traveller approached, 
the rocks would open wide apart, apparently to give 
him easy passage and invite him to enter; but as 
soon as he was within the cleft they would close like 
hands clapping and crush him to death. These rocks 
were really people ; they thought like men ; they were 
anaye (that is, cannibalistic gods). When the boys 
got to the rocks they lifted their feet as if about to 
enter the chasm, and the rocks opened to let them in. 
Then the boys put down their feet, but withdrew 



154 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

them quickly. The rocks closed with a snap to crush 
them, but the boys remained safe on the outside. 
Thus four times did they deceive the rocks. When 
they had closed for the fourth time, the rocks said: 
*'Who are ye, whence come ye two together, and 
whither go ye?" ^^We are children of the Sun," 
answered the boys. ^^We come from Dsilnaotil, and 
we go to seek the house of our father." Then they 
repeated the words that the Spider- Woman had 
taught them, and the rocks said, ^^Pass on to the 
house of your father." When next they ventured 
to step into the chasm the rocks did not close, and 
they passed safely on. 

The boys kept on their way, and soon came to a 
great plain covered with reeds that had great leaves 
on them as sharp as knives. When the boys came to 
the edge of the field of reeds (Lokaadikisi), the latter 
opened, showing a clear passage through to the other 
side. The boys pretended to enter, but retreated, and 
as they did so the walls of reeds rushed together to 
kill them. Thus four times did they deceive the reeds. 
Then the reeds spoke to them as the rocks had done ; 
they answered and repeated the sacred words. ^^Pass 
on to the house of your father," said the reeds, and 
the boys passed on in safety. 

The next danger they encountered was in the 
country covered with cane cactuses. These cactuses 
rushed at and tore to pieces whoever attempted to 
pass through them. When the boys came to the cac- 
tuses the latter opened their ranks to let the travellers 
pass on, as the reeds had done before. But the boys 
deceived them as they had deceived the reeds, and 



SOME STEANGE PLxlCES AND PEOPLES 155 

subdued them as the}^ had subdued the reeds, and 
passed on in safety. 

After they had passed the country of the cactus 
they came, in time, to Saitad, the land of the rising 
sands. Here was a great desert of sands that rose 
and whirled and boiled like water in a pot, and over- 
whelmed the traveller who ventured among them. 
As the boys approached, the sands became still more 
agitated, and the boys did not dare venture among 
them. ^^Who are ye?" said the sands, ^^and whence 
come ye?" ^^We are children of the Sun, we came 
from Dsilnaotil, and we go to seek the house of our 
father." These words were four times said. Then 
the elder of the boys repeated his sacred formula; 
the sands subsided, saying, ^^Pass on to the house of 
your father." and the boys continued on their journey 
over the desert of sands. 

The boys finally reached the house of the Sun God, 
their father. It was built of turquoise, but square 
like a pueblo house, and stood on the shore of a ^^ great 
water." Here they were in much danger and woTild 
undoubtedly have perished had it not been that they 
were magically protected. For in a short time the 
giant who bore the Sun on his shoulder came in. 
He took the Sun off his back and hung it on a peg 
on the west wall of the room, where it shook and 
clanged for some time, going '^tla, tla, tla, tla," till 
at last it hung still. It took some time for the bearer 
of the Sun God to realize that he was the father of 
these boys, but when he did he greeted them with 
great affection and asked them their mission. They 
explained that the land in which they dwelt was 



156 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

cursed and devastated by tlie presence of a number 
of alien gods who devoured their people. Said they : 
' ' They have eaten nearly all of our kine ; there are 
few left; already they have sought our lives, and 
we have run away to escape them. Give us, we beg, 
the weapons with which we may slay our enemies. 
Help us to destroy them." This petition pleased the 
bearer of the Sun God and he gave them clothing 
and a number of weapons which would enable them 
to accomplish what they desired. He took from the 
pegs where they hung around the room and gave to 
each a hat, a shirt, leggings, moccasins, all made 
of iron; a chain-lightning arrow, a sheet-lightning 
arrow, a sunbeam arrow, a rainbow arrow, and a 
great stone-knife or knife-club. ^^ These are what 
we want," said the boys. They put on the clothes 
of iron, and streaks of lightning shot from every 
joint. 

After more trials of their shrewdness and powers 
of perception, during which time the Sun God car- 
ried them through the heavens, he, finally, after 
making them point out the place where they lived, 
spread out a streak of lightning on which he shot 
down his children to the summit of Mount San Mateo. 
Here four holy people told them all about Yeitso. 
They said that he showed himself every day three 
times on the mountains before he came down, and 
when he showed himself for the fourth time he 
descended from the mountain to drink; that, when 
he stooped down to drink, one hand rested on the 
mountain and the other on the high hills on the oppo- 
site side of the valley, while his feet stretched as 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 157 

far away as a man could walk between sunrise and 
noon. This was the opportunity the boys wanted. 
While waiting, however, they decided to try one of 
the lightning arrows which their father had given 
them. When they shot it, it made a great cleft in 
the side of Mount San Mateo, where it remains to 
this day, and one of the brothers said to the other: 
^*We cannot suffer in combat while we have such 
weapons as these." 

Soon they heard the sounds of thunderous foot- 
steps, and they beheld the head of Yeitso peering 
over a high hill in the east. It was withdrawn in a 
moment. Soon after, the monster raised his head 
and chest over a hill in the south, and remained a 
little longer in sight than when he was in the east. 
Later he displayed his body to the waist over a hill 
in the west; and lastly he showed himself down to 
the knees over a mountain in the north. Then he 
descended, came to the edge of the lake, and laid 
down a basket which he was accvistomed to carry. 
He stooped down to drink, and so frightful was his 
appearance that it made the boys afraid; but by 
and by their courage came back and they taunted 
the giant when he made a threat that he was going 
to eat them. The Wind (who in Navaho mythology 
is a personification), in his kindness towards tlie 
boys, gave them warning as to the treacherous acts 
contemplated by Yeitso, and made it possible for 
them to dodge the lightning bolts that he rapidly 
hurled at them one after another. Escaping the 
giant's arrows, the brothers had time to put tlieir 
own lightning arrow^s into place, pull the bow-string 



158 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

taut, and fire. Four times did the elder brother 
shoot, and when the fourth arrow struck the giant 
it brought him to tlie ground, flat upon his face, his 
arms and legs outstretched. As he lay there, the 
younger brother stepped up and scalped him, and 
then they cut off his head and threw it away where 
it may be seen to this day. 

The blood from the body flowed in a great 
stream down the valley, and the boys stood watching 
it, with no thought of danger until their friend. 
Wind, told them that it was flowing in the direction 
of the home of another alien god and that if it 
reached that far Yeitso would come to life again. 
Then the elder brother took his great stone-knife, 
which had magic power, and drew a line with it 
across the valley. When the blood reached this line 
it piled itself high until it began to flow in another 
direction. Here again was danger, for Wind whis- 
pered that it was flowing towards the home of another 
alien god known as ^Bear that Pursues,' and that if 
it reached this far, Yeitso would come to life again. 
Again the elder brother drew a line with his knife 
on the ground, and again the blood piled up and 
stopped flowing; and that is the reason the blood 
of Yeitso fills all the valley today, the high cliffs 
of black rocks that you see being the places where 
the blood piled up after the elder brother had drawn 
the line with his magic knife." 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 159 

SLEEPING ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP 

As soon as the story was finished, Mrs. Young 
thought it was time for us to go to bed. It is amazing 
how easily things are done when you know how to do 
them. Everything had been phmned so that not less 
than ten minutes after we arose from the camp-fire 
the boys had carried the blankets for us girls out to 
one side on the mountain, where we were fairly well 
secluded, and they had taken their own to the other 
side. Near to us Professor and Mrs. Young had 
placed their blankets so that we felt in a measure 
protected, and the Mexicans went down on the moun- 
tainside a little way to where the horses were tied, 
and it seemed to us that they acted as a kind of picket- 
guard to protect us from surprise. We did not know 
whether to undress or not, and it is hard to tell 
whether we all undressed or only partially undressed. 
I began by taking off very little of my clothing, but 
I found as the night went on I took off more. At 
first it was too wonderful to sleep. The stars were 
so beautiful, the air so delicious, the feeling so 
mysterious. What a wonderful change it was from 
the city of Chicago. To think that I, a girl born in 
a large city and who had never been far away from 
home, was stretched out here in the open, in a country 
surrounded by Indians and on the summit of a moun- 
tain over 11,000 feet high. Several times I had to 
pinch myself to be sure I was not dreaming. 

I do not know when I got to sleep for I seemed to 
lie awake a long time and I remember that before I 
dozed off I half consciouslv observed a tremendous 



160 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

black cloud floating towards us from the south. But 
I was too sleepy to pay much attention to it. All at 
once I was awakened by the patter of rain dropping 
on my face and by the voice of some one shouting. 
I think we all must have awakened at the same time. 
Dr. James was running about like one possessed. 
Again we saw why he had brought the canvas. One 
of these was large enough to cover us four girls and 
almost as soon as the rain had begun to descend we 
WTre completely sheltered imder one of these thought- 
fully provided sheets. Professor and Mrs. Young 
had one, but the bo3^s got wet. It happened in this 
way. Instead of snuggling up together, they had 
decided to sleep where each one fancied and the result 
was they were somewhat scattered when the rain 
came. In order to avail themselves of the one canvas, 
they had to get up and pull their blankets together, 
and while they w^ere doing this they got wet. But it 
did not seem to hurt them, for they were soon off to 
sleep again and paid no more attention to the rain 
than if it had not come at all. We girls did not sleep 
much more that night, at least I didn't think so, 
although Mrs. Young assures us that she heard some 
snoring from our blankets after the rain had ceased. 
But while it lasted how it did pour ! I began to 
feel queer about those haJios I had stolen and when I 
did drop off into a little snooze, it was to dream about 
fierce Indians coming to punish us for taking them, 
and in the dim distance I could see the blood pouring 
from the headless body of Yeitso and coagulating in 
the valley beneath, while his head grinned at me from 
El Cabazon. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 161 

We were a little damp in the morning, but as the 
rain had stopped and the skies were clear and we 
did not get up until a good hot breakfast was pre- 
pared, similar to our supper of the night before, we 
felt as fresh as larks and happy as could be. We were 
in no hurry to start back, so we all went botanizing 
and gathered a number of interesting and beautiful 
flow^ers. 

It was fun going down the mountain side, for in 
some places the trail was very steep and the rain 
had made everything so slippery that it seemed to 
us as if our horses just about sat down and slid for 
as much as twenty or thirty yards at a time. But we 
reached the home of our hospitable host at San Mateo 
without either accident or mishap, after the most 
wonderful and interesting trip that I had ever en- 
joyed. 

TO SAN RAFAEL 

On our return to Grants, we were driven out three 
miles to the quaintly interesting town of San Eafael. 
On our way we passed several piles of stone upon 
which were placed crosses each bearing a rude in- 
scription. We were told that these were spots where 
the coffin had rested of some one being conveyed to 
the burying-place, and that at each place where the 
bearers rested it was the custom to place these crosses. 
There were not many things at San Rafael that were 
different from San Mateo, but one thing interested 
us very much. We passed a large clump of entraiia, 
or candlestick cactus, as the Americans call it, one 
of the most cruel and thorny of the cactus family. 



162 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

At San Bafael, we met a number of the penitente 
brothers, and the missionary there told us that he and 
Dr. James together had seen a half dozen of these 
men take large bundles of these thorn covered cac- 
tuses and tie them upon their naked backs. They had 
seen these same men lie down, pressing their whole 
bodies upon the cruel thorns which penetrated and 
lacerated their bodies dreadfully. The penitentes of 
San Rafael make it their boast and glory that so 
many of them thus punish themselves with the cruel 
entrana. 

EIVEES OF LAVA 

We stayed that night at San Rafael and the next 
day drove through and over a remarkable lava-flow. 
It was a most picturesque ride in and out of mountain 
valleys where tall pines grow in stately majesty. We 
were told that this whole Zuni mountain range is 
covered with ruins of a long-forgotten people, who 
were undoubtedly driven out of the country, not by 
famine, not by pestilence, not by the power of 
enemies, but by the overflows of lava which came in 
resistless floods from different peaks of the range. 

Certainly the appearance of the country indicates 
tremendous volcanic activity, but it is hard to realize 
that people could have been living here and were 
driven from their homes when these awful demon- 
strations of nature's power occurred. Of course we 
recalled the recent outbreak of Mount Pelee and the 
disturbances of California and Italy, yet in spite of 
these facts and our historic readings about the de- 
struction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, it seemed 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 163 

impossible that we were actually in a region where 
people were driven from their homes by positive, real, 
actual flows of red-hot molten rock poured out from 
the interior of the earth. We are told that there are 
even Indian houses in this part of the country into 
which the lava has flowed, clearly indicating that the 
Indians must have been living here when the out- 
burst occurred, but Dr. James says that though he 
has hunted for these houses he has never been able 
to find one of them. 

Be that as it may, he took us to two level mesas 
on the top of which were a vast number of ruins, 
clearly showing that at one time there must have 
been at each place a village of some hundreds of 
inhabitants. 

The wall of one of these places was made of red 
sandstone that the Indians had found in this neigh- 
borhood, and which they had hammered or dressed, 
for the marks of the hammer were still clearly to be 
seen. We are told that dressed stone is very seldom 
found among any of these ruins. 

The boys wanted to dig into these ruins, and there 
is no doubt they would have found many interesting 
things had they done so, as they are both large and 
extensive and as yet have never been made the scene 
of either the scientific explorer or the treasure- 
hunter. 

We now went up to the spring known as Agua 
Fria, (the cold water). And how cold and delicious 
it was. We became pretty well used to all kinds of 
water in New Mexico, some of it very brackish and 
unpleasant, and a great deal of it positively horrible 



164 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

with alkali and other minerals, but this was as fresh, 
sweet and delicious as any water we ever tasted. 

Here we camped for the night, as we were in the 
midst of a beautiful pine forest and it was decided 
that we should see the big crater we had come up to 
examine, early the next morning. 

AGUA FRIA CRATER 

There are scores of these craters in the Zuni 
Range, and the lava which has flowed from them has 
overrun the country for many scores of square miles. 
Here, as in the region of Mount San Mateo, even our 
untrained eyes could clearly see there had been sev- 
eral different flows at different periods. For in- 
stance, we saw great groves of pine trees from 150 to 
250 feet high naturally growing out of these ancient 
lava flows. Then zigzagging over these were later 
flows which had clearly destroyed the trees that stood 
in their path. Coming up the Zuni Canyon, places 
had been pointed out to us where not only the lava 
poured down from the heights above in its fiery flood, 
but in places it really appeared as if it had forced its 
way out from its seething source in the bowels of the 
earth directly under the sandstone rocks of which the 
sides of the canyon were formed. 

Immediately after breakfast, we started out for 
the great Agua Fria crater. The trees have so com- 
pletely surrounded it and even struggled up its sides, 
that one can scarcely see it until he gets very near to 
it. Though one side of it is steep and made up of 
such small disintegrated particles of lava that the 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 165 

ascent on tliat side is almost hopeless, we found the 
other side a comparatively easy slope, and while hard, 
the climb was neither exhausting nor dangerous. 

It was certainly a wonderful sight when we stood 
at last on the top of this gigantic bowl. It took us 
some little time to take in its majestic proportions. 
We were standing on ^Hhe edge of nothing." The 
solid rock made a sheer drop immediately before us 
into the dizzying abyss and while we could see the 
bottom, an immense tree was growing there which 
added to the dimness and mystery. Nearly opposite 
from where we stood, the whole side of the crater had 
been broken down about three-fourths of its height. 
And w^e tried to picture what must have occurred 
when that break was made. We had no means of 
measuring the exact size of the crater, but we 
estimated it must have been from 1,500 to 2,000 feet 
across and at least 700 or 800 feet deep. 

Did you ever look into one of the furnaces in 
South Chicago where they were converting iron into 
steel and see the incandescent mass bubbling and 
seething under the intense heat ? Something like this 
the great mass of lava in the crater must have been 
when it burst out on the other side. We talk and 
write about it, but it is impossible to conceive this 
immense natural kettle full of rock, boiling and 
bubbling like water, but sending its fierce heat and 
poisonous fumes into the surrounding air. Then, all 
at once, with a sudden crash and muffled roar, the 
great wall on the north breaks and out pours the wild, 
raging flood with its fierce heat to spread out over the 
valley. Once started, it did not stop for days, for 



166 A LITTLE JOURXEY TO 

one can follow this stream for many miles, and it 
spread out taking desolation wherever it went. If 
one could have been in a safe place and watched it, 
it must have been an awe-inspiring sight — the flood of 
fire, nearly 500 feet high when it first burst forth, 
sweeping away and burning everything that came in 
its track. And a peculiar thing about these lava- 
flows is that the outside cools very rapidly and solidi- 
fles, while the material in the interior still remains 
molten and pours on, so here one would have had a 
strange spectacle of seeing the cooling lava make its 
own arched-over tunnel through which the molten 
current flowed. These tunnels became filled with gas 
made by the melting rocks, and sometimes were 
swelled out into large caves. We found numbers of 
such caves, near Laguna, San Mateo, here at Agua 
Fria, and near the San Francisco mountains. Some- 
times the half molten rock would be turned over by 
the force of the expanding gas until it seemed as if a 
gigantic plowshare, able to turn a furrow forty feet 
high, had come along plowing up the rock when it was 
in a plastic state in this gigantic fashion. Again in 
places the gas must have exploded and scattered the 
rocks as it did so, so that it looks today like hundreds 
of thousands of huge masses of diabolical black 
cauliflowers. 

Dr. James says that he has spent many days fol- 
lowing these lava-flows, and when he has tried to 
walk over these blown-up masses his shoes have been 
cut to pieces in a very few hours. He says that he 
has wandered over the famous lava-flows in the south 
of France, but neither in extent, grandeur nor diver- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 167 

sity do thej^ begiu to compare with the lava-flows of 
New Mexico and Arizona. Certainly they must be 
verv wonderful if they are equal to even the small 
glimpses we had of the flows at San Mateo and here 
in the Zuui mountains. 

It was a pleasant trip back to Grants, and there, 
after another night of camping out, we were met by 
a delightful Mexican gentleman, Don Leopoldo 
Mazon, with teams with which he was to drive us to 
one of the places we had long dreamed of, but never 
expected to see. We were actually on our way to see 
that most marvelous autograph album of history, 
known as Inscription Rock, and then were gomg on 
to Zuni, where the big community house is, and where 
they believe in witches and hang them, even up to 

the present day. 

Don Mazon's carriage and spring wagons were 

all right but his horses were broncos of mtractable 

and unbroken spirit. They had wills of their own 

which thev were not afraid of showing, and it was 

most amusing to see and hear the perf onnances and 

antics of the broncos and the expostulations and 

arguments of the drivers. While we were getting 

into the wagon the animals danced around m a frenzy 

of excitement and fear, and it took a man at the 

head of each horse to keep them from running away 

When we started they jumped and plunged and 

reared and cavorted and pushed sideways and hit 

against each other in the most ^''^"^^^'/'^^''f^^Z 
Leopoldo seemed to be used to it, and talked gen ly 
and made soothing noises with his hps while he let 
the lines out at arm's length. It really was very, 



168 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

very funny, although when they were running, as 
they did at times, in places where the road was 
sidling, it seemed as if we should surely upset. 
Looking back, I saw that the driver behind us was 
having even a worse time than we, for accompanying 
that wagon were two outriders in the shape of Mexi- 
can cowboys, each of whom had a reata in his hand, 
with which now and again he would ^4ambast" the 
rearing and plunging broncos. At last one of these 
animals began to balk and settle down with a back- 
ward plunge and a desperate shake of the head, as 
much as to say that no power on earth should move 
him forward another inch; but the poor creature 
soon learned his mistake. Lightly throwing their 
lassoes over the head of the obstinate creature, the 
cowboys coolly and deliberately wound the other 
ends of the strong rawhide ropes around the horns 
of their saddles, and then, when the ropes were fairly 
taut and the driver was ready, he gave the signal 
and the two horsemen quickly urged on their horses. 
The recalcitrant bronco with the backward tendency 
was immediately hauled forward with a strain on his 
neck that must have been as painful as it was sur- 
prising. At the same time we could not help laughing 
at the peculiar demeanor of the bronco. A few 
moments before he had settled back as if nothing on 
earth could move him, but now he seemed determined 
to pull with a fury that would have destroyed the 
wagon could he have had his way. 

And this, we are told, is the way some of the 
Mexicans break their horses to drive. They are all 
trained to the saddle with comparatively little diffi- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



1G9 



culty, for so many of them are needed to follow the 
range cattle; but nobody seems either to know or 
care anything about the proper breaking for driving 
purposes. Consequently, when it is necessary to use 
a conveyance there are no properly trained animals, 




A CORNER OF DON LEOPOLDO MAZON'S HOUSE WITH EL MORO IN 

THE DISTANCE 



but some of the saddle-animals are harnessed and in 
this summary fashion are compelled, willy-nilly, to 
become staid and dignified carriage horses. 

We stayed all night at Las Tina j as, Don Leo- 
poldo's hospitable home, so named because near by 
there are several natural bowls of water. 



170 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

INSCEIPTION ROCK 

Thp. next morning we rode the four miles over to 
Inscription Rock, about which and its wonderful 
inscriptions we had heard a great deal. They were 
made by the old Spanish soldiers who wandered over 
this desert from Zuni to Acoma, and Acoma to 
Santa Fe, as far back as in the early ^^ sixteen hun- 
dreds," or nearly three hundred years ago. 

Of the genuineness and historic value of these 
inscriptions there can be no question. Too many 
scholars and those thoroughly acquainted with the 
history of the Southwest have seen and studied them. 
In Lieutenant Simpson's report to the Secretary of 
War on his trip through the Navaho country, in 1849, 
he gives a graphic and very complete description of 
the rock, and accompanies his report with a number 
of drawings from the inscriptions, made by his artist, 
Mr. R. H. Kern. Kern was the artist who accom- 
panied General Fremont on one of his California 
expeditions, and from him the Kern River was 
named. 

The whole region is one of mesas, faced with 
precipitous cliffs and topped with caps of lava. But 
here, between two canyons, the sides of which are 
dotted with juniper and pinion, stands a massive 
triangular block of sandstone of pearly whitish 
aspect, over two hundred feet high, and suggesting 
in its stupendous grandeur a temple or castle built 
after the style of the Egyptians, but immeasurably 
larger. The walls are seamed and marked with 
storms and conflicts of many centuries, and the main 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 171 

wall is so precipitous, and its summit carved by 
nature into so close a reseml)lance to an em))attle- 
ment, that the Mexicans have always termed it 
El Moro (The Eock), on account of its castle-like 
appearance. On two sides of the rock are the iuscrii)- 
tions found, and as they were all engraved by men 
standing at the base of the rock, very few of them 
are higher tlian a man's head. The perfection of the 



'^ 7> A ^- ^ ;^T^ ./^ 2 



0.-" 






» \ ^ \ \ 







. - \ 




INSCRIPTIONS ON NORTH FACE OF INSCRIPTION ROCK 

inscriptions is remarkable. They are as distinctive 
in their character as the handwritings of men on 
paper, and all of them are remarkably well done. 
The surprising thing is that after all tliese years 
they are still so perfect; but this is accounted for 
by the peculiar character of the rock and the fact 
that it does not crumble when exposed to the weather. 
It is of a very fine grain and comparatively easy to 



172 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



scratch into, and the two walls upon which the 
inscriptions occur being practically protected from 
storms, these rock autographs remain almost as clear 
and as perfect as the day they were written. That 




EL MORO INSCRIPTION ROCK 



of Lieutenant Simpson seems as if made but yester- 
day. It was neatly done in a parallelogram by Mr. 
Kern, and reads as follows: ''Lt. J. H. Simpson, 
U. S. A., and B.. H. Kern, artist, visited and copied 
these inscriptions, September 17th, 1849.'' 

The major part of the inscriptions are on the 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 173 

north face of the rock — a very striking one being 
that of Bishop Elizaecochea, of Durango, Mexico. 
Here is the inscription as copied by ]\Ir. Kern. Its 
translation is as follows: ^^On the 28th day of Sep- 
tember of 1737, reached here the most illustrious 
Seiior Doctor Don Martin De Elizaecochea, Bishop 
of Durango, and on the 29th day passed on to Zuni." 
This refers to one of the official visits made by the 
Bishop of Durango, in whose district the whole of 
New Mexico belonged, and to which it remained 
attached until 1852. 

Just above that of the Bishop and slightly to the 
left are two other autographs, doubtless of members 
of his party. Between them is a fairly well engraved 
representation of an ornamented cross. The larger 
inscription reads as follows: ^^On the 28th day of 
September, 1737, reached here ^B' [supposed to 
represent Bachiller — Bachelor — of Arts] Don Juan 
Ygnacio De Arrasain"; and the other merely says, 
^^ There passed by here Dyego Belagus." 

There are many inscriptions of great interest, 
especially when you know the stories of their makers. 
These were told to us by Professor Young and Dr. 
James, and they included De Silva Nieto, a former 
Governor of New Mexico (1629), General Juan Paez 
Hurtado (1736), Juan de Oiiate (1605), Basconzelos 
(1726), De Vargas, the reconqueror of New INIexico 
(1692), Arechuleta (1636), and many others. 

One of the inscriptions reproduced by Kern is 
shown on page 171. 

It is quite a puzzling inscription, the peculiar 
abbreviations being decipherable only by those 



174 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

familiar with the ancient Spanish writings. Trans- 
lated into long-hand Spanish and then into English, 
it reads as follows: ^'They passed on the 23d of 
March of the year 1632 to the avenging of the death 
of the Father Letrado." Father Letrado was the 
missionary who practically established the Fran- 
ciscan mission at Zuni. He had already proved his 
faithfulness by service among the Jumanos, a wild 
tribe of Indians who occupied the plains east of the 
Eio Grande. He did not labor long with the Zunis, 
for in February, 1630, they murdered him. The 
Governor, Francisco de la Mora Ceballos, sent a 
handful of soldiers under the command of Colonel 
Tomas de Albizu to avenge the death of Father 
Letrado, and it is possible that Lujan was a soldier 
on this expedition. When the soldiers arrived at 
Zuni they found that the pueblo was deserted and 
the people had retired to the summit of Thunder 
mountain. With great tact and diplomacy Albizu 
persuaded them to return to their homes, and, on 
promises of amendment, the breach caused by Father 
Letrado 's murder was healed. 

But however interesting the inscriptions are at 
El MorOy they are by no means the only objects to 
attract our attention. Walking along the east wall 
for several hundred yards, one finds it possible to 
scale the rugged slope that leads to the top of El Moro. 
Here, to our surprise, we find that it is practically 
split in half by a narrow canyon, in the center of 
which grows a tall pine. This canyon seems literally 
scooped out of the solid rock, for from the point 
where we have been examining and copying the 



SOME STEA^GE PLACES AND PEOPLES 175 

inscriptions there is nothing whatever to indicate 
its existence. It is a perfect cul de sac. A whole 
army might hide here, and if they observed a disci'eet 
silence, another hostile army could occupy the north 
and south sides of the rock for a week and never 
dream of their existence. 

Perched on the highest summit of the two sides 
of the rock thus divided by this canyon, are the ruins 
of two interesting prehistoric villages. The nearer 
of these ruins presents a rectangle 206 feet wide 
by 307 feet long, the sides conforming to the four 
cardinal points. There were evidently two ranges 
of rooms on the north side and two on the west, with 
a few rooms within tlie court. On the north side 
was found one room seven feet four inches by eight 
and one-half feet, and on the east side one eight and 
one-half by seven feet. These were the two largest 
rooms, except for one circular kiva thirty-one feet in 
diameter, near the middle of the north wall. 

The ruin on the opposite side was of the same 
character, and around both of them we picked up 
many specimens from the immense quantities of 
broken pottery, most all decorated after the usual 
style. 

The Zunis have a tradition in regard to the 
inhabitants of these ruins, and they also tell a most 
interesting story which refers their abandonment to 
the time when the great flood of lava threatened the 
country. 

We camped that night at the foot of Inscription 
Rock, under the pine tree near the spring which 
had furnished refreshment to Juan de Oiiate, De 



176 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

Vargas, Bishop Elizaecochea, and many other 
heroes and notables whose names we have been 
studying. I was very weary, and yet my brain was 
in such a whirl with the wonderful thrill and fasci- 
nation of the great events we call history, that I 
found it almost impossible to sleep. What must have 
been the thoughts of those soldiers, far away from 
home and families, knowing that they were in the 
land of people who hated them, and yet going back 
and forth day after day, liable to be killed at any 
moment, but simply accepting the danger as part of 
their every-day occupation! How hard it is for 
people of one condition of life and time to com- 
prehend the spirit of the lives of people in other 
conditions and times! 

ON THE ROAD TO ZUNI 

In spite of the interest we felt in Inscription 
Rock, we were all eager to push on the next morning 
immediately after breakfast, for Zuni was ahead of 
us, with the fascination of its stories, legends, his- 
tory, ceremonies and people. The road was sandy 
and wearisome to travel, being composed of a series 
of long ascents followed by sudden and rather steep 
descents. It was through a juniper- and pinion- 
dotted country, and would have been interesting 
enough if it had not been so hot and the journey 
so long. 

There was one interesting break, in a marvelous 
piece of rock sculpture that we saw on our left not 
far from the road. It was a gigantic flying buttress 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD TEOPLES 177 

with an arch two or throe hundred feet high, the 
whole figure being on a scale of grandeur and mag- 
nificence that completely dwarfed the most wonderful 
work of man in this line. 

Leaving this behind us, we pressed on until sud- 
denly the winding road abruptly ended in a ])lack 
lava descent of nearly 250 feet. There before us 
was spread out the long looked for plain of Zuni. 
It was a great red and yellow stretch that reached 
into the far-away hill lands to the west and south, 
distorted by mirages and sand-clouds ; whilst to our 
left, a mile or two away, rising from munberless red 
sandstone foothills, towered a rocky island far larger 
than either Katzimo or Acoma, possibly a thousand 
feet high and two or three miles in length along its 
flat top, which in places was chiseled and carved 
by the weather into pinnacles, spires, domes and 
minarets. The entire north side of the valley was 
closed in by a section of canyon-seamed brown sand- 
stone mesas mantled in pinion and juniper, con- 
trasting richlv with the sky, which at this point was 
deep turquoise and perfectly cloudless. Out from 
the middle of the rocky hill and line of sand-hills 
on which we stood, emerged the Zuni River, but it 
was only a tiny streamlet, winding its way westward 
across the sandy plain, glistening and shimmering 
in the evening sun, until it seemed to lose itself in 
the shadows of a good-sized hummock which arose 
above the horizon line of the far-away distance. We 
were drinking in the scene wlien Dr. James came up 
behind us and, pointing to the hunnnock. said, ^' There 
is Zuni." It was hard to realize it until with the 



178 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

field glasses we took a good look. We were then able 
clearly to see the big pyramid house and tiny moving 
human figures on the upper terrace, some of which 
were clearly silhouetted against the glare of the 
setting sun. 

Near where we stood was the place where Marcos 
de Niza got his first glimpse of this wonderful city, 
of which Cabeza de Vaca had brought the news into 
Mexico and had fired the hearts of the Spaniards 
into the belief that here undoubtedly was one of the 
fabled ^^ seven cities of Cibola," where gold, jewels 
and precious stones were to be picked up ad libitum. 

It was not long before our jaded horses stopped 
with gladness just across the tiny river opposite Zuni. 

THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF ZUNI 

The first impression one has of Zimi is of a 
number of long, flat-roofed adobe-covered houses, 
such as we had seen at Laguna, but connected with 
one another in extended rows and squares, piled one 
above another, lengthwise and crosswise, but getting 
smaller as they ascend, and each tier receding from 
the one in front like the steps of a rude-shaped 
pyramid, with a base that stretched out somewhat 
indefinitely in each direction. This was the monster 
community house, which dominates all the other 
houses in Zuni. 

The structure fairly bristled with ladder poles, 
chimneys and protruding rafters. The ladders were 
all heavy and long, and stood leaning at all angles 
against the roofs, or protruded through hatchways 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND I'KOPLES 179 

from rooms beneath. Carved slabs of wood were 
tied across the tops. The chhnneys were unlike any- 
thing Ave had seen before, suggesting gigantic bam- 
boos with joints very close together. We found tliat 
they were made of bottomless oUas, or jiottery jars, 
set one upon another and cemented together with 
nmd. The doorways were small and windows tiny. 
And from the base to the top, on different steps of 




THE PUEBLO OF ZUNI, N. M. 



the terraces here and there, were the bee-hive ovens 
we had become familiar with at Laguna and Aconia. 
All around the town, especially on the side wliere 
the little river ran, were the tiniest and quaintest 
little gardens ever seen, separated from one another 
by irregularly built walls. Here, arranged like 
figures on a checker-board, were patches of squash, 



180 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



onion, chili-pepper, melons and pumpkins, and 
beyond these were numberless round and square 
corrals made of bare posts and sticks of juniper 
and pine. In some of these enclosures burros and 
sheep were confined, and a number of hobbled burros 
were to be seen in every direction, wherever the eye 




TSNA-HAY, "ZUNI DICK" 



rested. Hobbling a burro means tying his front legs 
together at the ankles with a stout thong of buckskin. 
This enables the animal to move about and pick up 
what forage he can find; and at the same time it 
makes traveling difficult, so that he cannot stray 
away from home. There were more dogs than burros, 
and of all the slinking, scrawny, vicious-looking crea- 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 181 

tures, these certainly surpassed anything I had ever 
seen. Wallowing in several mudholes by the side of 
the stream were some black hosjs, which scurried 
away with swift feet and disapproving grunts when 
we approached. As we came nearer Ave were sur- 
prised to find a number of eagles confined in rude 
cages made of sticks, which occupied various corners 
of the housetops. 

We went directly to the house of Tsna-hay, 
commonly called ^^Zuni Dick/' who greeted us 
kindly in broken English, and seemed especially 
glad to see his old friend. Dr. James. It did not 
take long to allot us our quarters. We girls were 
lodged in the house of Pa-lo-wah-ti-wa, whose grand- 
father, we afterwards learned, was one of the noted 
governors of Zuni. Two of the boys and Dr. James 
stayed at Dick's, while Professor and Mrs. Young 
and the other boys were accommodated in nearby 
houses. 

As we were to stay here for several days, definite 
arrangements were made as to meals, so that we 
could give as much time as possible to sight-seeing. 
Surely now, if never before, we were in a foreign 
land. The architecture was strange ; the little naked 
boys and girls, strange; the kangaroo-like jump of 
the hobbled burros was strange; and as we climbed 
to the top of the big pyramid house, things seemed to 
grow stranger still. In one place we saw a woman 
making pottery; close by, a woman was sweeping a 
floor with the quaintest little bunch of broom-corn 
in her hand; while a little distance away, another 
woman was washing the hair of her husband or son 



182 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

in a bowl that seemed full to overflowing of light 
suds or lather. On the next story a man squatting 
against the wall was sewing a pair of moccasins. 
Every few moments, naked children, like living 
bronze statues, darted in and out of the doorways 
or popped their heads through the ladderways and 
immediately darted or popped back again, as if half 
afraid of us. 

We saw so many things of interest that delayed 
us as we climbed that it seemed as if we should never 
reach the top. And when we did reach there, the 
impression of being in a strange land was much 
stronger than it had been before. The strange 
building, with its peculiar terraced architecture, 
funny chimneys, obtrusive ladder poles and funny 
little flights of steps between stories, looked like a 
Chinese puzzle, and the streets and alley- ways which 
surrounded it at the base only added to the puzzle 
effect. 

Beyond the house, radiating like spokes of a 
wheel — the spokes, however, made of sticks which 
bent ^^ every- which-way" — were numberless trails 
that led the eye to the walls of rock that seemed to 
hem in this valley on every hand. The rocks formed 
a rude circle, the rim of the cart-wheel of which the 
hub was the great house on which we stood. 

Suddenly a sweet and musical voice arose as if 
someone were making an announcement. Looking in 
the direction of the voice, we saw, standing on the 
roof of one of the houses detached from the main 
building, an upright figure with blanket wrapped 
tightly around him, melodiously making announce- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 183 

ments to all the people. We afterwards learned that 
this was the governor's herald, instructing the people 
as to the ceremonies or duties that must be performed 
on the morrow. 

That night we were all invited to go down into 
the underground sacred kivas where one of the 
medicine men was to tell us of the distribution of 
the different animals throughout the earth. To make 
this story clear, Dr. James gave ns the following 
introductory explanation, which he says forms part 
of a wonderfully interesting monograph on ^^Zuni 
Fetiches," which appears in one of the reports of 
the Bureau of American Ethnology. Said he : 

^^The Zuni Indians have a very peculiar and 
interesting philosophy, according to Gushing, w^hich 
accounts for and explains some most interesting 
fetiches, which are very common amongst them. 
The highest philosophy of which we are cognizant 
recognizes the 'Universal Kinship,' and the 'Cosmic 
Consciousness' is already believed in by thousands 
of intelligent people, as well as followers of Emerson 
and Whitman. In a way, the Zunis believe in this 
universal relationship, not only of the sun, moon, 
stars, sky, earth and sea, but all plants, animals, 
men, and every inanimate object. Thougli they 
believe these objects have an all-conscious and inter- 
related life, the degree of relationship seems to be 
determined largely by the degree of resemblance. 

''To them, man is the least mysterious and most 
dependent of ' all things, ' hence he is the lowest. Any- 
thing that in any way, actually or in imagination, 
resembles him, is believed to be related to him, and 



184 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

correspondingly mortal and low in the scale. Every- 
thing that is mysterious, strange and incomprehen- 
sible to him, on the other hand, is regarded as further 
advanced than himself, powerful and immortal. The 
animals, being mortal and possessing similar physical 
functions and organs, are closely related to man ; but, 
on the other hand, as they possess specific powers 
and instincts that man does not possess, and at the 
same time have an element of the mysterious in them, 
they are regarded as nearer to the gods than man. 
The phenomena of nature, being still more myste- 
rious, powerful and immortal (that is, they are 
exercised all the time, while man is born and dies, 
and thus is mortal) are more closely related to 
the higher gods than the animals ; yet they are nearer 
to the animals than are the higher gods, because their 
manifestations often seem to resemble the operations 
of the animals. 

^" Hence we see in the Zuni philosophy of things 
the following order : 

The Higher Gods, 

The Phenomena of Nature, 

The Animals, 

Man, 
the animals and the phenomena of nature forming 
links between the powers below them and the 
powers above. 

^'The phenomena of nature are all personified, 
and are given animal personalities that most nearly 
correspond to their commonest manifestations. For 
instance, lightning is given the form of a serpent, 
with or without the arrow-pointed tongue, because 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 185 

its course through the sky is serpentine, and its 
stroke, like that of the serpent, instantaneous and 
destructive. Yet, strange to say, it is named not 
after the name of the serpent, but after its most 
obvious trait, viz., its gliding, zigzag motion. 

^^It can thus be seen that the Zuni man regards 
the serpent as his superior, because to him, it is more 
mysterious than himself and is more nearly related 
to the lightning, which is a step still higher. 

' ' Following this chain of reasoning, it can well be 
seen that the Zuni gods, the ^Master Existences,' 
are supposed to be more closely related to the per- 
sonalities of the phenomena of nature than to either 
animals or men. The latter two are close by, mortal, 
and not so very mysterious, whereas the * Creators 
and Masters' are far away, remote in time, immortal, 
and only vaguely known. They are all given forms, 
however, either of animals (which forms also per- 
sonify the powers of nature), of monsters com- 
pounded of man and beast, or of man. The animal 
gods form by far the largest class. 

^^The Zunis have no words to signify ^gods.' The 
nearest terms they possess are words that signify 
^Surpassing Beings' — Creators and Masters, and 
^All Fathers' — beings who are superior to all others 
in wonder and power, and who are the ^Makers' and 
the * Finishers' of existence. 

^^ Living men are called ^Done Beings' — from the 
words that signify ^done, cooked, baked, or ripe'; 
and when they die they are called ^Finished 
Beings' — from the words signifying ^made' or 
* finished.' 



186 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

^^It will be seen, therefore, that there is not so 
vast a difference between these orders of life; and 
each being related to the one above and the one below 
it, the Zuni realizes a close connection between him- 
self and the highest powers. The nearest he comes 
to recognition of God is in his mythology, where there 
are beings, godlike in attributes and power, anthro- 
morphus, monstrous, elemental, who are known as 
the ^Makers or Finishers of the Paths of Life.' The 
Sun, the most superior of all, is called 'The Holder 
of the Paths.' 

''From the sun downwards to man, all these 
beings and personalities (even those of nature) are 
called 'Life Beings,' and because all have the same 
general name, the Zuni instinctively believes that 
they are all of one blood, — one family. 

'' Feeling, however, as he does, that the animals 
are nearer to himself than either the phenomena of 
nature or the higher gods, and that they may and 
can act as mediators between himself and the higher 
powers, it is perfectly natural that his worship should 
be largely addressed to animals. And here another 
peculiarity of his mental processes is observed, viz. : 
Being unable to recognize the difference between the 
objective and the subjective, he establishes relation- 
ships between natural objects which resemble animals 
and the animals themselves. He even imitates these 
animals for the purpose of establishing such relation- 
ships between himself and the animals and the 
natural phenomena they signify; and he thus pro- 
vides himself with a conventional art for purely 
religious purposes. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 187 

^^In his selection of animals to act as mediators 
bet^Yeen himself and the higher powers, he naturally 
chooses those which supply him witli food and useful 
material, as skins for clothing and foot-gear, gut 
for bow-strings, etc. But more important still to 
him are those animals that prey upon these useful 
and food animals. If he can propitiate these latter 
and gain their spirit and power, he will never lack 
for food, etc.; and this is one of the great objects 
of his prayer. Hence he calls the representations of 
these objects of his worship, — these fetiches, — 
We-ma-we, or Prey Beings. 

''The fetiches highly valued by the Zunis are 
natural concretions which bear a resemblance to one 
of the animals or representations worshiped, and 
these resemblances are often artificially heightened. 
The most valued of all, however, are sometimes highly 
carved, but, by their high polish and dark patina, are 
clearly of great antiquity. They have been found 
around the ruins of ancient pueblos, or have been 
handed down for many generations. All these con- 
cretions, whether in their original or improved 
condition, are supposed by the Zunis — and their 
A'-sM-tva-ni, or medicine men, clearly teach such as 
the fact — to be either actual petrifactions of the 
animals they represent, or were such originally. 

''By a strange course of reasoning, the Zunis 
believe that the fetiches, though of stone, possess 
all the qualities of body and spirit inherent to the 
animals when alive. For instance, the heart of the 
mountain lion has a spirit of conscious power over 
the antelope, deer and other animals that he hunts ; 



188 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

his breath, which comes from this magical power of 
the heart, breathed in the direction of the prey, 
whether near or far, strikes their hearts and causes 
their legs to stiffen and their bodies to lose their 
strength ; and his cry, which is his magical medicine 
of destruction, charms the senses of his prey. The 
fetich has the same power, they believe ; for, though 
the person of the lion is stone, his heart still lives, 
and these powers are derived from the living heart. 

^^ Hence they have a large number of fetiches, 
one for each of the six world regions, and the reason 
for these is explained in the legend which I have 
asked our Zuni friend to tell you." 

We now^ turned to the Zuni shaman^ and listened 
as he talked and Tsnahay translated. 

How I wish I had the power to paint a picture 
of our story-teller as we sat in this underground 
chamber, squatted around the little fire which 
burned on the hearth at the foot of the ladder, 
through the hatchway of which we could catch 
glimpses of the star-studded sky! With solemn 
dignity the story-teller talked, his bronzed and 
seamed face lit up every now and again, not only 
with the interest of his tale, but with the additional 
light cast when a few new sticks were put upon the 
fire. We, the product of the later American civiliza- 
tion, sat around him, while beyond us sat and stood a 
listening throng of Zuni young men and old, who 
seemed as much interested in the story as if they 
had never heard it before. 

Each of the six regions has its own prey animal, 
who is also the guardian of that region, as follows: 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 180 

the Mountain Lion, of the North, because his coat is 
yellow and the light of the North is yellow ; the Black 
Bear, to the land of Night, the West ; the Badger, of 
ruddy skin, the land of Summer, the South; the 
White Wolf, to the land of the Dawn, the East; 
the Eagle, to the upper regions, for he flies through 
the air without tiring, and his coat is speckled as is the 
sky with clouds ; the Mole, to the lower regions, for 
he burrows through the earth, and his coat is black, 
as are the holes and caves of the earth. The Moun- 
tain Lion is the master of all the gods of prey, because 
he is stout of heart and strong of will. 

The fetiches representing all these animals are 
kept in great veneration by the Zuni medicine priests, 
and when a member of one of their societies wishes 
to go hunting he comes and, with much prayer and 
ceremony, takes out the fetich he needs for the direc- 
tion he intends to hunt in and the prey he seeks 
to obtain. 

This is their story about the distribution of the 
animals: When men began their journey on the 
earth it was from the Red River. The wonderful 
family of the Snail People caused, by means of their 
magic power, all the game animals in the whole world 
round about to gather together in the forked canyon- 
valley under their town, where they were securely 
hidden from the rest of the world. 

The walls of this canyon were high and insur- 
mountable, and the whole valley, although large, was 
filled full of the game animals, so that their feet 
rumbled and rattled together like the sound of distant 
thunder, and their horns crackled like the sound of a 



190 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

storm in a dry forest. All round about the canyon 
these passing wonderful Snail People made a line 
of magic medicine and sacred meal, which road, even 
as a corral, no game animal, even though great Elk 
or strong buck Deer, could pass. 

Now, it rained many days, and thus the tracks 
of all these animals tending thither were washed 
away. Nowhere could the Ka-ka, or the children of 
men, although they hunted day after day over the 
plains and mountains, on the mesas and along the 
canyon- valleys, find prey or trace of prey. 

Thus it happened that after many days they 
grew hungry, almost famished. Even the great 
strong Sha-la-ko and the swift sa-la-mo-pi-a walked 
zigzag in their trails, from the weakness of hunger. 
At first the mighty Ka-ka and men alike were com- 
pelled to eat the bones they had before cast away, 
and at last to devour the soles of their moccasins 
and even the deer-tail ornaments of their dresses, 
for want of the flesh of the game animals. 

Still, day after day, though weak and disheart- 
ened, men and the Ka-ka (Zuni ancient mythical 
beings) sought game in the mountains. At last a 
great Elk was given liberty. His sides shook with 
tallow ; his dew-lap hung like a bag, so fleshy was it ; 
his horns spread out like the branches of a dead 
tree; and his crackling hoofs cut the sands and 
even the rocks as he ran westward. He circled far 
oft* toward the Eed Elver, passed through the Round 
valley, and into the northern canyons. The Sha-la-ko 
was out hunting. He espied the deep tracks of the 
Elk and fleetly followed him. Passing swift and 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 191 

strong was he, though weak from hunger, and ere 
long he came in sight of the great Elk. The sight 
gladdened and strengthened him ; but alas ! the Elk 
kept his distance as he turned again toward the 
hiding-place of his brother animals. On and on the 
Sha-la-ko followed him, until he came to the edge 
of a great canyon, and, peering over the brink, dis- 
covered the hiding-place of all the game anunals of 
the world. 

' ' Aha ! so here you all are ! ' ' said he. ^ ^ I '11 hasten 
back to my father, Pa-u-ti-wa,^ who hungers for 
flesh, alas! and grows weak." And like the wind the 
Sha-la-ko returned to Ko-thu-el-low-ne. Entering, 
he informed the Ka-ka, and word was sent out by the 
swift Sa-la-mo-pi-af to all the We-ma-a-ha-i for 
counsel and assistance, for they were now the fathers 
of men and the Ka-ka. The mountain Lion, the 
Coyote, the Wild Cat, the Wolf, the Eagle, the Falcon, 
the Ground Owl, and the Mole were summoned, all 
hungry and lean, as were the Ka-ka and the children 
of men, from want of the flesh of the game animals. 
Nevertheless, they were anxious for the hunt, and 
moved themselves quickly among one another in tlieir 
anxiety. Then the passing swift runners, the Sa-la- 
mo-pi-a, of all colors, — the yellow, the blue, the red, 
the white, the many colored, and the black, — were 



* The chief god of the Ka-ka, now represented by masks and the 
richest costuming known to the Zunis, which are worn during the Winter 
ceremonials of the tribe. 

t The Salamopia are monsters with round heads, long snouts, huge 
feathered necks, and human bodies. They are supposed to live beneath 
the waters, to come forth, or enter snout foremost. They also play an 
important part in the Ka-ka or sacred dances of Winter. 



192 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

summoned to accompany the We-ma-a-ha-i to the 
Snail People. Well they knew that passing wonder- 
ful were the Snail People, and that no easy matter 
would it be to overcome their medicine and their 
magic. But they hastened forth until they came 
near to the canyon. Then the Sha-la-ko, J who 
guided them, gave directions that they should make 
themselves ready for the hunt. 

When all were prepared, he opened by his sacred 
power the magic corral on the northern side, and 
forth rushed a great buck Deer. 

''Long Tail, the corral has been opened for thee. 
Forth comes the game; seize him!" With great 
leaps the Mountain Lion overtook and threw the 
Deer to the ground, and fastened his teeth in his 
throat. 

The corral was opened on the western side. Forth 
rushed a Mountain Sheep. 

''Coyote, the corral has been opened for thee. 
Forth comes thy game; seize him!" The Coyote 
dashed swiftly forward. The Mountain Sheep 
dodged him and ran off toward the west. The Coyote 
crazily ran about, yelping and barking after his game, 
but the Mountain Sheep bounded from rock to rock 
and was soon far away. Still the Coyote rushed 
crazily about until the Mountain Lion commanded 
him to be quiet. But the Coyote smelled the blood 
of the Deer and was beside himself with hunger. 



t Monster human-bird forms, the warrior chiefs of Pautiwa, the 
representatives of which visit Zuni, from their supposed western home 
in certain springs, each New Year. They are more than twelve feet high, 
and are carried swiftly about by persons concealed under their dresses. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 193 

Then the Mountain Lion said to him, disdainfully: 
''Satisfy thy hunger on the blood I have spilled, for 
today thou hast missed thy game ; and thus ever will 
thy descendants like thee blunder in the chase. As 
thou this day satisfiest thy hunger, so also by the 
blood that the hunter spills on the flesh that he throws 
away shall thy descendants forever have being. ' ' 

The corral was opened on the southern side. An 
Antelope sprang forth. With bounds less strong 
than those of the Mountain Lion, but nimbler, the 
Wild Cat seized him and threw him to the ground. 

The corral was opened on the eastern side. Forth 
ran the 0-ho-li — the Albino Antelope. The Wolf 
seized and threw him. The Jack Rabbit was let out. 
The Eagle poised himself for a moment, then 
swooped upon him. The Cotton Tail came forth. 
The Prey Mole waited in his hole and seized him; 
the Wood Rat, the Falcon made him his prey; the 
Mouse, and the Ground Owl quickly caught him. 

While the We-ma-a-ha-i were thus satisfying 
their hunger, the game animals began to escape 
through the breaks in the corral. Forth through the 
northern door rushed the Buffalo, the great Elk, and 
the Deer, and toward the north the Mountain Lion 
and the yellow Sa-la-mo-pi-a swiftly followed and 
herded them to the world where stands the yellow 
mountain, below the great northern ocean. 

Out through the western gap rushed the Mountain 
Sheep, herded and driven by the Coyote and the blue 
Sa-la-mo-pi-a, toward the great western ocean, where 
stands the ancient blue mountain. 

Out through the southern gap rushed the 



194 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

Antelope, herded and driven by the Wild Cat and 
the red Sa-la-mo-pi-a, toward the great land of 
Summer, where stands the ancient red movmtain. 

Out through the eastern gap rushed the Albino 
Antelope, herded and driven by the Wolf and the 
white Sa-la-mo-pi-a, toward Avhere ''they say" is the 
eastern ocean, the ^^ Ocean of Day," wherein stands 
the ancient white mountain. 

Forth rushed in all directions the Jack Rabbits, 
the Cotton Tails, the Rats, and the Mice; and the 
Eagle, the Falcon, and the Ground Owl circled high 
above, toward the great "Sky ocean," above which 
stands the ancient mountain of many colors; and 
they drove them over all the earth, that from their 
homes in the air they could watch them in all places ; 
and the Sa-la-mo-pi-a of many colors rose and 
assisted them. 

Into the earth burrowed the Rabbits, the Rats, 
and the Mice, from the sight of the Eagle, the Falcon, 
and the Ground Owl; but the Prey Mole and the 
black Sa-la-mo-pi-a thither followed them toward 
the four caverns of earth, beneath which stands the 
ancient black mountain. 

When the earth and winds were filled with rum- 
bling from the feet of the departing animals, the 
Snail People saw that their game was escaping; 
hence the world was filled with the wars of the Ka-ka, 
the Snail People, and the children of men. 

Thus were let loose the game animals of the world. 
Hence the Buffalo, the great Elk, and the largest 
Deer are found mostly in the North, where they are 
ever pursued by the great Mountain Lion ; but with 



SOME STRANGE TLACES AM) I'KOPLKS 105 

them escaped other anhnals, and so not alone in the 
North are the Buffalo, the Great Elk, and the Deer 
found. 

Among the mountains and the canyons of the 
West are found the Mountain Sheep, pursued by the 
Coyote ; but with them escaped many other animals, 
hence not alone in the West are the Mountain 
Sheep found. 

So, for the same reason, that other animals 
escaped in the same direction, while we find toward 
the South the Antelope, pursued by the Wild Cat; 
toward the East the Albino Antelope, pursued by 
the Wolf ; they are not found there alone. 

In all directions escaped the Jack Rabbits, Cotton 
Tails, Eats, and Mice ; hence over all the earth are 
they found. Above them in the skies circle the Eagle, 
the Falcon, and the Ground Owl ; yet into the earth 
escaped many of them, followed by the Prey Mole ; 
hence beneath the earth burrow many. 

Thus, also, it came to be that the yellow Mountain 
Lion is the Master Prey Being of the North; but 
his younger brothers — the blue, the red, the white, 
the spotted, and the black Mountain Lions— wander 
over the other regions of earth. Does not the spotted 
Mountain Lion [evidently the Ocelot] live among the 
high mountains of the South'? 

Thus, too, was it with the Coyote, who is Master 
of the West, but whose younger brothers wander over 
all the regions ; and thus, too, with the AMld Cat and 
the Wolf. 

Thus the Zunis explain the special distribution 
of the Prev animals and their prey throughout the 



196 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



six regions, and also why other animals are found 
in those regions in which, according to the special 
classification, they should not occur. 




ZUNI NICK, WHO WAS ONCE HANGED BY THE THUMBS AS A 

WIZARD 



BELIEVERS IN WITCHCEAFT 



Just as we were leaving the kiva and about to retire 
for the night. Dr. James laughingly cautioned us to 
beware of the witches. And then we remembered 
that we were in the homes of people who earnestly 
and sincerely believe in witchcraft, and who, within 
the last few years, have severely punished, almost to 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 197 

death, certain of their men and women who had been 
deemed «'nilty of following* this heinous practice. 

In the morning before we had breakfast we were 
taken over to the home of ''Nick," who, though a 
full-blooded Zuni, spoke English as well as we did. 
He was educated by Mr. Graham, an Indian trader, 




THE HOUSE OF WEWA, ZUNI, N. M. 



who for many years lived at Zuni, and who adopted 
Nick in his childhood. As we returned to breakfast. 
Dr. James quietly remarked : ''You would not believe 
that that man was a witch, would you ?" 
In amazement, we all exclaimed "No!" 
"Yet," said he, a few years ago Nick was accused 
of being a witch, or, as we would say, using the mas- 
culine form of the word, a wizard. They arrested, 



198 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



tried, condemned, and undoubtedly would have killed 
him had it not been for the intervention of Mr. 
Graham and his other white friends." 

We were then taken to the home formerly owned 
by Wewa, one of the most remarkable women of the 
Zunis of the last generation. She was so bright and 




WEWA, THE ZUNI WOMAN WHOSE DEATH WAS SAID TO HAVE 
BEEN CAUSED BY WITCHCRAFT 



intelligent, and such an excellent weaver, that Presi- 
dent Cleveland invited her to Washington, where 
she remained as his guest for a number of days. 
She took with her one of the primitive looms of the 
Zunis, which was set up on the White House lawn, 
and there she wove several of her beautiful native 
robes for Mrs. Cleveland. She remained six months 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 199 

in Washington, making friends with Speaker Car- 
lisle and many others. She was the tallest person 
among the Zunis, and all who knew her regarded her 
as the strongest, both mentally and physically. She 
had an excellent memory, not only for the lore of 
her people, but of all the things she saw and heard 
in the outside world. Her energy was indefatigable, 
all the hard work of her household being left for 
her to do. 

When she died there was great weeping among 
the Zunis, and Nai-u-chi, the chief priest of the Order 
of the Sacred Bow (one of the most important relig- 
ious organizations of the tribe) deemed her death 
owing to witchcraft. A poor old woman named 
Melita was accused of the crime, and she was duly 
arrested and hung up by the wrists and thumbs to 
make her confess. While in this agonizing position, 
Nai-u-chi and his two associates, Ne-mo-si and Hay- 
tot-si abjured her to acknowledge her wrongdoing 
and then suffer the penalty in meekness. But she 
refused. 

Dr. James happened to appear in the village 
on the day that Melita was suspended, and his pres- 
ence arrested the progress of her punishment. 
Learning of the event, he began a search for the poor 
old woman, and, finding her in one of the topmost 
rooms of the large community house, with her back 
all raw and bleeding from the cruel scourgings she 
had received ; her wrists cut through with the raw- 
hide riata by which she had been hung; and her 
cheeks swelled and torn by the bursting of blood- 
vessels under her eyes, he determined to ^jrotect her 



200 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



from further assault and injury. The teachers of 
the Government school kindly attended to the poor 
creature's wounds and other physical necessities, and 
he spoke strong words on her behalf to the priests 
who had conducted her trial. When he asked Melita 




MELITA, THE OLD WOMAN ACCUSED OF HAVING BEWITCHED 
WEWA, ZUNI, N. M. 



who had been guilty of beating her so cruelly, she 
said ''Hay-tot-si! Hay-tot-si!" When she had 
refused to confess, this zealous and fanatical medi- 
cine man had torn her clothes from her back and 
scourged her, calling upon her to acknowledge her 
evil practices. We went to see Melita, and, though 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 201 

it was some time since her rescue, the glad way in 
which she welcomed her white friend showed that 
she remembered and fully appreciated what he had 
done for her in the days of her distress. 

RETURN TO GALLUP 

I COULD easily fill three books with what we saw, 
heard and felt at Zuni, but my space is too limited 
to write more. We returned to the railway at Gallup 
and there visited the coal mines — for it is a great 
coal region — and also met quite a number of Navaho 
Indians at the store of C. N. Cotton, one of the noted 
traders of the country, who has a fine statue of 
Manuelito, the last great war-chief of that tribe, over 
the entrance to his store. This figure was sculp- 
tured by the eminent artist McNeil, whose work has 
already gained him world fame and some degree of 
fortune. 

We also saw one of the most remarkable geological 
formations it has been our good fortune to witness, 
even in this country of interesting formations. It 
occurs about half a mile east of Gallup, and the 
Santa Fe railway passes directly through it. This 
is an upturned wall of cretaceous sandstone, etc., in 
a monoclinal flexure, some of the strata being tilted 
almost to the perpendicular. This monocline has been 
called the Nutria monocline, because it first appears 
at the village of Nutria, which we passed on our 
return from Zuni, and it has long engaged the inter- 
ested attention of our most observant geologists. All 
the way from Grants to Gallup, along the railway 



202 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

are most interesting masses of rock, great cliffs termi- 
nating north of tlie railway, some of them carved and 
sculptured into rude pyramids, towers, spires and 
pinnacles. One of these, the ISTavaho church, is a very 
noticeable object to the traveler on the trans-conti- 
nental railwav. 




IN THE PETRIFIED FOREST, ARIZONA 

ADAM AN A AND THE PETRIFIED FOREST 

Our next point of interest was the Petrified 
Forest, and to reach this we left the train at a little 
side station, some twenty miles east of Holbrook, 
known as Adamana. 

We wondered where it could have found so 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 203 

strange a name. Dr. James then explained : ^' There 
used to live on a cattle-ranch, near by, an old Arizona 
pioneer named Adam Hanna. I have often rambled 
over the country with him and visited the great 
natural wonder which we are now about to see. 
When the Santa Fe Railway finally decided that 
they would stop their trains here to give trans- 
continental travelers an opportunity to visit the Pet- 
rified Forest, and they questioned what to call the 
station, it was suggested that they link together the 
two names of the old pioneer, which was accordingly 
done." 

The Petrified Forest is certainly one of the 
^Svonders of the world." It is an area over ten miles 
square, covered with fallen trees, generally broken 
into somewhat irregular lengths, scattered in all con- 
ceivable positions and in fragments of all sizes, the 
sections varying from two to twenty feet long, and 
in some places x)iled up and looking almost like a lot 
of children's cart-wheels jumbled up together. 

This Petrified Forest area is about twenty miles 
from Holbrook, Apache County, and while it is all 
one area, it is naturally subdivided into three parts, 
commonly known as the ^^ Petrified Forest," ** Chal- 
cedony Park," and ^^Lithodendron (stone trees) 
Valley." The latter section is nearest to tlie little 
liotel at Adamana, kept by an obliging successor of 
the old pioneer — Al Stevenson by name. Here we 
were kindly received and hospitably entertained. 
While Mr. Stevenson prepared the teams to take us 
out to the forest, his wife provided us with an 
excellent breakfast. 



204 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

OUT TO THE PETRIFIED FOREST 

The drive was only five miles out, and part of it was 
over a sort of plain, although there were rugged 
cliffs to be seen in the distance. We finally reached 
these bluffs and found that Lithodendron Valley is 
between two of them. As we drove along we saw all 
kinds of freaks of erosion in the peculiar colored soil 
of which these bluffs are made. One looked much like 
an eagle with outspread wings. At last we came to 
the petrified trees. There were literally hundreds 
of thousands of specimens scattered on each side of 
the valley and up and down the slopes. The valley is 
scarcely half a mile wide, and there is practically no 
vegetation, the soil being composed mostly of clay, 
sand and volcanic ash. The further we went, the 
greater the quantity of specimens found, until at last 
we were surrounded literally by millions of pieces. 
Some of the fossil trees were well preserved. The 
exposed part of some of them measured from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in length and 
from two to four and a half feet in diameter. The 
roots of some were fully exposed, and the diameter 
of some of these portions is not less than ten or 
twelve feet. 

We picked up one piece after another, only to 
drop them for pieces more desirable, for the colors 
are simply beautiful and exquisite in the extreme. 
The state of mineralization in which much of the 
wood exists almost places certain pieces among the 
class of semi-precious stones. Not only are chal- 
cedony and agates found among them, but many ap- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 205 

proach the condition of jasper and onyx. So hard is 
the material that there was once a factory started for 
the purpose of grinding up these logs and converting 
them into emery wheels, which were of the finest and 
most useful quality. 

At the World's Fair held in Chicago there were a 
number of beautiful specimens, highly polished, and 
they were more beautiful than any agate or marble. 
One exhibit was of a very large fire^^lace and mantel, 
the richness of which it is scarcely possible to con- 
ceive. There were also table-tops, clock-cases, pedes- 
tals, paper-weights, etc., and the high polish revealed 
the marvelously brilliant colors. 

THE PETRIFIED BEIDGE 

On THE other side of one of the slopes we came to 
the interesting Petrified Bridge. This consists of a 
great petrified tree-trunk lying across a canyon and 
forming a natural foot-bridge on which men may 
easily cross. Our guide has ridden across it on a 
horse. This bridge is on the northeast side of one 
of tlie ''mesas" near its rim. The trunk is in an 
excellent state of preservation and is complete to 
the base, where it is partially covered, though it 
shows clearly the manner in VN^hich the roots were 
attached while the tree was still growing. The total 
length of the tree that is exposed is one hundred and 
eleven feet, and as the canyon across which it lies 
measures at this point exactly forty-four feet between 
the points on which the tree rests, more than sixty 
feet of the upper part of the tree lies out upon the 



206 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



left bank of the canyon. At about the middle of the 
canyon the tree measures ten feet in circumference, 
giving a diameter of about three feet. Its diameter 
at the base is about four feet, and at the extreme 
summit is reduced to about eighteen inches. It is 




THE PETRIFIED BRIDGE, ARIZONA 



possible that the tree when growing measured one 
hundred and seventy-five or two hundred feet in 
height. 

As the accompanying photograph shows, most of 
the trees have been split across into sections or blocks. 
There are four of these transverse cracks in the tree 
of the petrified bridge. 

Several scientific and other writers have 
stated that there are a number of stumj^s to be found 



SO:\rp] STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 207 

standing erect, with their roots in the ground, show- 
ing that they were growing and were buried and pet- 
rified on tlie spot. But those who have ramljled over 
these forest areas many times during the past thirty 
years say they have not found a single tree stump so 
situated. 

We brought our hmch with us, so that we might 
sj^end the whole day in the forest, and after we had 
eaten heartily, our friendly guide told us an amusing 
story of an old Arizona pioneer who became so en- 
thusiastic over the wonders of Arizona that he de- 
cided to go back East and deliver lectures on the nat- 
ural wonders and marvels of this interesting land. 

When he came to describe the petrified forest, 
this was the way he did it: ^^Yes, ladies and gentle- 
men, aout yonder in Arizony thar's a wonderful 
forest, whar the trees is a gro'in' jess the same as 
they did centuries ago, but a-a-a-1-1 pewtrefied. And, 
ladies and gentlemen, the roots of them thar trees is 
a gro'in' away down in the graound, jess the same as 
they did centuries ago, but a-a-a-a-1-1-1 pewtrefied: 
and the branches of them thar trees is a grow 'in' jess 
the same as they did centuries ago, but a-a-a-a-a-1-1-1-1 
pewtrefied: and flyin' araovmd in them thar branches 
and throu the pewtrefied air is a munber of pewtre- 
fied byrds asingin' pewtrefied songs." 

*^Come! Come!" exclaimed a startled gentleman 
in the audience. ^^My dear sir, what do you mean by 
making such an outrageous statement as that ? Pet- 
rified birds flying through petrified air, singing petri- 
fied songs? My dear sir, what becomes of the law 
of gravitation?" 



208 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

^^Oh, stranger, don't let that consarn you!" ex- 
claimed the ready Arizonian, ^^aout thar the law of 
gravitation is pewtrefied, too!" 

Some of us were very anxious to learn how this 
Petrified Forest came into existence and we listened 
with much interest to the explanation that was given. 

Many, many millions of years ago, in the far away 
dim ages of what geologists call triassic and mesozoic 
times, these trees grew, just as trees grow in our 
forests today. Evidently the climatic conditions were 
such in those far away early days as to be highly 
suitable for tree growth, or these great trees could 
never have attained the height and size in which we 
find them. Those were the days in which the world 
was in the process of making, and earthquakes, up- 
lifts, and subsidences of the earth's surface were 
much more common than they are now, since the 
crust of the earth has become more stable. In some 
convulsion of Nature — possibly a great tornado or 
flood — the whole forest-area wdiere these trees grew 
was flooded to such an extent and for so long a period 
of time that the roots of the trees rotted and allowed 
the trees to fall, or else the flood was so tremendous 
in force that it washed away the earth around the 
tree-roots and tore up the trees themselves, floating 
them away from the place where they grew to this 
region where we now find them. The reason we as- 
sume they were thus carried away from the place 
where they originall.y grew is the fact that the most 
careful searching has failed to find few, if any, 
branches of the trees, and but very few of the cones 
that they used to bear. It is assumed, therefore, that 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 209 

the branches were broken off by the turbulent move- 
ments of the flood, and that when the daming up of 
the course of the stream occurred, which located the 
trees where we now find them, the lighter branches 
and cones were carried away on the surface of the 
swirling waters. 

Thus lodged in a place where they could not es- 
cape, indications point to the fact that all the trees 
were now submerged in water for many, many cen- 
turies. The land surrounding the area of submerg- 
ence undoubtedly contained many minerals, and as 
these were exposed to the atmosphere and disinte- 
grated and rusted, they colored the water in which 
the trees were lying. It is well known that iron rust 
is a deep red ; copper gives brilliant yellows and pur- 
ples, while other minerals give equally vivid and 
beautiful colors. Combined with the color-giving 
minerals was a good deal of silica or lime, also held 
in solution in the water. By the exercise of that won- 
derful law, called capillary attraction, the wood fiber, 
as it decayed and washed away, left place for the 
water charged with lime and the brilliant coloring 
matters. Day by day, week by week, month by 
month, year by year, century by century, the process 
of change from wood fiber to solid stone, beautifully 
colored, thus took place, until all the wood fiber was 
gone and nothing but stone left in its place. 

In the meantime, there were great volcanic dis- 
turbances in this region, and vast quantities of vol- 
canic ash were cast out over the whole area of this 
forest, until finally the trees were buried in it, many 
feet deep. Then, as more millions of years slowly 



210 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

wore away, the region sank until sandstones, lime- 
stones, more sandstones and more limestones were 
w^ashed over the area and deposited until the forest 
was buried, some scientists say, to a depth of over 
twenty thousand feet. 

Then this period of subsidence was arrested and 
reversed. Mother Nature now began to lift the area 
again out of the great inland sea where all these 
layers of sandstone and limestone had slowly been 
accumulated and deposited, and the Petrified Forest 
region began to emerge higher and higher. But this 
must have been a time of great storms and atmos- 
pheric conflicts, for little by little, these sandstones 
and limestones that had so slowdy and patiently ac- 
cumulated were disintegrated and carried away, prob- 
ably to form the sands of the Mohave and Colorado 
Deserts of Southern California. Finally, previous 
to our own historic age, this process of disintegration 
and washing away of the accumulated strata of the 
Petrified Forest region was arrested, just at the ex- 
act time required to leave these trees exposed to 
man's vision. 

While the forest is now a National Park and thus 
guarded from vandalism by the government, there 
are so many millions of fragments scattered about 
on every hand that no objection is made to visitors 
taking away small specimens. So we all brought away 
several pieces, all of which are now prized as 
precious mementoes of our fascinating and instruc- 
tive trip. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 211 

HOLBROOK AND WINSLOW 

Leaving Adamana,we soon reached Holbrook, which 
is one of the growing towns of this portion of Ari- 
zona. Nearby are several Mormon settlements, and it 
and Winslow, the next good-sized town, are ])oth cen- 




SANTA FE TRAIN CROSSING CANYON DIABLO, ARIZ. 



ters for sheep — and cattle — men and miners. Wins- 
low is also a railway town, one of the divisions ter- 
minating here. From this latter place we gained our 
first fine view of the San Francisco peaks, hovering 
over the town of Flagstaff, and on the shoulder of 
which the Lowell Observatory is located. But before 
reaching Flagstaff we stopped at Canyon Diablo — 



212 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

the Canyon of the Devil — so-called by the travelers 
who found its two hundred and twenty-five feet of 
depth and five hundred and fifty feet of width impos- 
sible to cross without a bridge, wearisome to go 
around. It is a faint and insignificant suggestion of 
what a real large canyon is, but until one has seen 
something so much more stupendous as to dwarf it 
into insignificance it seems to be a very profound and 
awful gash in the earth's surface. 

Here we were cared for by Mr. F. W. Yolz, who 
had undertaken to drive us out to Meteorite Moun- 
tain and then send us with his teams to Hopiland, 
where we were to see the thrilling Snake Dance of 
the Hopi Indians. 

Standing in Mr. Yolz's doorway and looking to 
the southeast, we saw, ten miles away, what appeared 
to be a low, flat mountain. This, we were told, is the 
famous Meteorite Mountain, from which a great 
number of meteorites have been secured, and around 
which a great deal of scientific and other controversy 
has been w^aged. It was decided that we should visit 
this interesting geological formation before we 
started for the Hopi Country. 

A wagon was provided and some saddle horses, 
and happy and merry as usual, we reached the moun- 
tain. Climbing up its western slope, we found that 
it was only about two hundred feet high and that 
the top formed the rim of an immense round bowl- 
shaped hole in the ground. This hole has almost per- 
pendicular sides and is a mile wide and over six hun- 
dred feet deep. Originally it was undoubtedly much 
deeper than it now is but rocky debris has washed in 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 213 

and helped to fill it up. The bottom of tlio liole has 
a floor of about forty acres of level ground. 

Some people have imagined that tliis was an ex- 
tinct crater, but the latest scientific dictum is that it 
was formed by the falling of a monster meteorite, 
which buried itself in the ground at this spot. Un- 
doubtedly after striking the earth, the meteorite ex- 
ploded, as there have been about ten tons of meteor- 
ites, varying in size from a fraction of an ounce to 
over a thousand pounds in weight, scattered over a 
radius, the circumference of which is eight miles 
away from the mountain. The largest masses were 
found at the greatest distance. 

These meteorites were also found to contain dia- 
monds. The discovery of these diamonds came about 
in the following manner: The first known piece of 
the meteorite was picked up by a Mexican sheep 
herder. Owing to its great weight and shining quali- 
ties, he imagined it to be silver, but in attempting to 
dispose of it, he learned his mistake. A white pros- 
pector afterwards filed upon the mountain, claiming 
that it was pure iron, and in his attempt to dispose 
of the ^^ore,'' pieces of the meteoritic iron were sent 
east and there fell into the hands of Dr. Foote of 
Philadelphia, the well known geologist, v;ho pro- 
nounced it meteoritic and of celestial origin. In cut- 
ting a section of this sample. Dr. Foote found that 
his tools w^ere injured by something vastly harder 
than the elements of which the meteorite was supposed 
to be composed. He, therefore, tested the specimen 
chemically and to his amazement discovered that it 
contained black and transparent diamonds. This ex- 



214 A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 

periment was afterwards verified by otlier experts 
wlio found tliat tliree Idnds of diamonds were pres- 
ent. And since this time a search for diamonds in 
meteorites has occupied the attention of chemists all 
over the world. 

Sometime ago a company of scientific men located 
several mineral claims on Meteorite Mountain and 
finally obtained a patent from the government for the 
land. Their object was two-fold; primarily to solve 
the mysterv, if possible, and secondly, to appropriate 
anything valuable that might be found. A shaft 
nearly two hundred feet was sunk, when a strong flow 
of water was encountered, which temporarily ob- 
structed the work. A gasoline engine and drill were 
then secured and put in operation, and further drill- 
ing continued until another obstacle arrested further 
progress. So far, nothing of scientific interest has 
been discovered, though the workmen found two fair- 
sized meteorites, weighing one hundred and one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds respectively, near the surface. 

ON THE WAY TO THE HOPIS AND THEIR SNAKE DANCE. 

The next morning we left Canyon Diablo for Oraibi, 
the most western of the seven villages of the Hopi, 
in two four-horse wagons. In the far distance we 
could see the Mogollon Buttes — the eroded remnants 
of the great Mogollogon Plateau that used to occupy 
this vast area. They seemed very ethereal and dream- 
like, but as we drove further north their solidity 
and stability was rendered very evident. 

Professor Young jokingly asked Dr. James if he 
could not arrange to give us a series of remarkable 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 215 

desert sensations on this trip, and the latter readily 
responded that we could have all we wanted. Little 
did either of them think that we were going to have 
as many experiences as we did have. Although the 
sky was cloudless and perfectly clear, a storm must 
have been brewing somewhere, for that night after 
we camped on the western side of the Little Colorado , 
Eiver at Volz's Crossing and had had our supper, the 
clouds began to invade the sky. There was only 
one solitary tree and we girls were placed under it 
with Professor and Mrs. Young near by as our guard- 
ians. The boys spread their blankets out where fancy 
dictated, while Dr. James made his sleeping place 
under the tail end of the wagon. 

We could not have been sleeping more than two 
hours before it began to rain and, with his usual 
thoughtfulness, our kindly guide ran around to each 
sleeper to see that our blankets were covered with 
waterproof canvas. I suppose I must have been 
somewhat uneasy in my sleep and in turnmg had 
pushed mv foot outside the blankets. All at once I 
was awakened bv the feel of something wet touching 
my foot and looking up, my eyes fell upon what 
seemed to be a monster figure bending over my bed. 
Almost paralyzed, I still managed to let out a scream 
that was loud enough to "wake the dead." In a mo- 
ment Professor Young's calm voice inquired, 
"What's the matter, girls ?" It did not take long to 
make clear what had happened, namely: That in 
spreading the canvas over my blankets, the doctor s 
wet hand had touched my foot and caused the alarm 
We learned in the morning that the boys had 



216 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

spent a wretched night. There being no shelter what- 
ever for them, they had gathered together what wood 
they could and tried to keep alive a struggling little 
fire, huddling around it all night and longing for 
dawn. 

No sooner was it light than preparations were 
made for breakfast, and at the same time we learned 
what a treacherous stream the Little Colorado Eiver 
was. We could easily have crossed it the night before 
but, during the night, it had risen fully six or eight 
feet, and now there was no possible chance to cross 
unless the water subsided. This was what we first 
thought, but a short distance from where we camped 
Dr. James showed us where Mr. Volz had erected a 
cable crossing, and on the cable was suspended a cage, 
by means of which we could, if necessary, transport 
ourselves and our wagons to the other side. This plan 
was no sooner suggested than we sought its accom- 
plishment. The cage was a heavy, clumsy affair and 
required a tremendous amount of muscular effort to 
pull it across, but the boys and the drivers worked 
like beavers, and it was not long before our wagons 
and supplies were on the other side. We were then 
taken across and watched with great interest the proc- 
ess of bringing across the horses. They could not 
be lifted up into the cage, so two of them were tied 
in front and two behind so that they would not ob- 
struct each other when they began to swim. The 
boys then started the cage across and the horses, 
willy nilly, were compelled to follow. Their frantic 
endeavors to hold back before they reached the water 
were amusing and their desperate endeavors to get 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 217 

to the other side when they did strike the water were 
equally amusing. 

The lead animals of our wagon were two nmles — 
magnificently developed creatures, quite as large as 
our wheel horses, which were above the usual size. 
AVhen it came to getting the mules across, if the cage 
had not helped by its weight, pulling them along by 
gravity, I doubt whether they could have been made 
to enter the water. They held back with great stub- 
bornness, but the weight of the cage and the pulling 
of the boys just ^^yanked" them along and as soon as 
they found themselves in the water they were in a 
bigger hurry than the horses were to reach the other 
side. 

I forgot to tell about the practical joke Dr. James 
played upon us that morning at breakfast. The wa- 
ter of the Little Colorado River was thick with red 
mud so that it had the appearance of very rich choco- 
late. Knowing this, he placed a coffee pot full of it 
on the camp fire and when breakfast was ready, of- 
fered to serve us all with chocolate. Glad of the 
change from coffee, most of us accepted it. But after 
putting in the usual quantity of milk and sugar, it 
had a very peculiar taste, entirely different from any 
chocolate we had ever drunk. The Doctor sagely 
suggested that we put in a little more milk and sugar, 
which we did, though, naturally, it did not improve 
the flavor of the beverage any. At last the twinkle 
in the Doctor's eye and the smile on his face revealed 
that he was fooling us and then he explained to us 
that the ''substantial body" of the Little Colorado 
River water was such that had we been willing to 



218 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

partake of it, it would have supplied us with both 
*'meat and drink.'' 

The Little Colorado is always dangerous to strang- 
ers on account of these sudden uprisings and the 
further fact that its bed is a mass of quicksands. 
Horses and teams have been known to be sw^allowed 
up so quickly that the most vigorous endeavors at 
rescue were unavailing. His clothes being wet 
through, Dr. James waded into the stream a little 
way, in order to show us how uncertain the crossing 
was. Standing where the water was not more than 
a few feet deep, he gave his body a sudden jerk down- 
wards, and almost immediately sank up to the mid- 
dle. We w^ere somewhat alarmed that he might find 
difficulty in extricating himself, but, throwing him- 
self on his back towards the bank, he soon succeeded 
in pulling himself out. 

Although we were somew^hat bedraggled and wet, 
the sun was already shining brightly and our break- 
fast had made us feel cheerful, so it did not take us 
long to get ready to start. The rest of that day w^as 
beautiful. The rain had cleared the atmosphere and 
it had made the sand far more agreeable to travel 
over and we camped that night near ^^The Lakes," 
a small Navaho and Hopi Indian trading station 
about midway between Canyon Diablo and Oraibi. 

AN ARIZONA RAINSTORM 

Next morning after a breakfast on the half of a 
roasted mutton which had been purchased from the 
NaA^ahoes the night before, the sky became overcast 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 219 

with the most white, fleecy, and vividly beautiful 
clouds I had ever seen. They rolled, tumbled and 
tossed in the most fantastic and yet attractive style, 
but our drivers saw nothing in them to give them 
pleasure. One of them, a Mexican, said they meant 
''Muclio agiia'' — much water. And we found that 
what he said was true. We had not traveled more 
than an hour before the rain began to descend. At 
first it was a fierce shower and we thought we were 
having a terribly hard rainstorm. Our wagons, how- 
ever, were protected by bows over which canvas was 
stretched, so that we were perfectly dry, although our 
drivers were on the outside and we could soon see 
that they were wet through. Little by little the storm 
increased in fury until, at last, as one of the boys 
said: ^^It was coming down in carload lots, freight 
paid." It fairly seemed to pour down in sheets, and 
in less than an hour's time, this dry, barren, desolate, 
sandy desert — that seemed as if it could swallow up 
all the moisture of the world — was almost entirely 
covered with water. At last our two mules refused 
to travel, and Dr. James decided to get out and take 
the lines. Giving his heavy four-horse whip to one 
of the boys, he got him to sit out on the dashboard 
and devote his attention, with the whip, to the lead 
mules, while he gave special attention to the '^vheeP' 
horses. The mules wanted to turn tail to the storm, 
but this was not the direction we wished to travel. 
For over two hours it was a constant struggle and 
battle between the men and the animals. Dr. James 
persisted in going ahead and the mules wished to re- 
turn. Fred was kept busy, all the time, yelling at the 



220 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

mules and occasionally touching them up with the 
whip, and in that fashion we progressed. The only 
way we could tell the location of the road was that 
it had fortunately worn itself deep into the sand so 
that the bushes left on either side indicated where it 
was. This was our salvation. For the travel over 
the road had packed the sand in such a way that it 
prevented it from becoming quicksand, as a large 
part of the surrounding country had become when 
thoroughly soaked with the rain. Had we left the 
road, we should probably have been engulfed in a 
quicksand and never have reached our journey's end. 
While we had every sympathy for Dr. James, 
Fred and the other drivers, we ourselves, being dry 
and warm inside, were having a jolly time, but finally, 
when we reached Mr. Volz's trading store on the 
Hopi reservation, a few miles this side of Oraibi, 
we could not help laughing at their forlorn and be- 
draggled appearance. They were not only wet 
through, but they oozed water. If you put your hand 
on one of their shoulders, immediately a little stream 
flowed out from the knee below. The keeper of the 
store kindly turned over everything to us, and so we 
prepared our evening meal in the kitchen, while our 
wet friends changed their clothes and sent out their 
wet garments to be hung around and dried. What a 
funny picture it was ; this little cramped up structure 
full of all kinds of grocery supplies to be sold to the 
Indians, mixed up with pottery, Indian dolls, Indian 
blankets, baskets, bows and arrows, and all sorts of 
things that had been secured from the Indians in 
trade, with wet coats, trousers and underwear hang- 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 221 

ing near the stove, around which we four girls, di- 
rected by Professor and Mrs. Young, and assisted 
by the boys, were cooking supper. 

CAUGHT IN QUICKSAND 

But it would have taken a great deal more than a 
storm like this to have dampened our spirits and trav- 
eling ardor. There were still two hours of sunlight, 
and the storm seemed to have abated, so it was de- 
cided that we should go on. Knowing that from here 
to Oraibi there was no possibility of going over the 
ordinary road, as it was completely flooded. Dr. 
James sent out for a couple of Hopis to come and 
act as our guides, and at the same time look out for 
quicksands where we might be entrapped. After 
supper w^e resumed our journey, throwing back the 
canvas from our wagons so that we could have a fair 
outlook. It was interesting to watch the Hopi guides. 
Every now and again when they would come to some 
place down which the storm-water had poured in great 
fury, they would poke into the ground long sticks, 
which each of them carried for the purpose, in order 
to determine whether a real quicksand existed or it 
was only the surface that was affected by the water. 
At last we came to a place that looked like the bed of 
a dry ravine. The first wagon, which Dr. James was 
driving, halted on the edge while the Hopis probed 
to find out whether it was safe to attem]it to cross. 
When the Indians called out, ''Lo-Jo-mi'' — good — 
he started up the animals. AVe seemed to be going 
across all right, and the mules actually reached the 



222 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

other side in safety, when all at once, just as if the 
surface were brittle piecrust, it gave way, and almost 
in a moment the two horses were down to their bellies 
and the wagon up to its bed. 

*^Out for your lives!" yelled Dr. James, and al- 
most as quickly as I can tell the story, we had leaped 
out and the boys were throwing out the contents of 
the wagon on to the dry sand at the rear. While this 
was being done. Dr. James, flat on his back, was un- 
hitching the harness of the ^Svheel" horses. He 
afterwards explained that he stretched out on his 
back in order to prevent himself being engulfed. He 
had already placed one of the boys at the head of the 
mules and had given instructions to the other driver, 
who brought a long heavy rope, and was making a 
loop of it on the rear axle. As soon as the horses were 
free from the wagon, a few sharp blows from the 
whip encouraged them to extricate themselves, especi- 
ally as they were still fastened to the mules, which 
were urged forward at the same time and thus helped 
drag them out. Circling around so as to avoid the 
quicksand, the four animals were brought back to 
the rear end of the wagon and the rope from the axle 
tied to the stretchers. The four horses from the 
other wagon were then fastened ahead of our four 
animals. While this was being done, orders had been 
given for the boys to spread the rolls of bedding 
around the rapidh^ sinking wagon, so that they could 
be stood upon while help could be given to lift the 
wagon, when the horses were made to pull. When 
everything was ready, the two Mexicans, holding the 
lines and driving the two four-horse teams, Dr. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



223 



James hanging on to the pole so as to steer the wagon 
out, and all of us lifting wherever we could, the cry 
was given, ^'Out with it!" The drivers yelled like 
demons, their whix)s cracked angrily, the horses and 
mules pulled as if they were possessed and in ten sec- 




THE HOPI PUEBLO OF ORAIBI, ARIZ. 



onds the wagon was rolled back upon the solid sand. 
Had there been any time wasted, it would have 
been impossible to get ourselves extricated. Nothing 
but promptitude and knowing what to do, and how 
to do it, could have accomplished our release in so 
short a time. And when the tension was over, we 



224 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

congratulated ourselves, almost to tears, at our happy 
release. 

Circling above and around the dangerous spot, 
we passed it in safety and had no further particular 
adventure until we reached the foot of the mesa upon 
which Oraibi stands. It had begun to rain again and 
sleeping out of doors was out of the question, so ar- 
rangements were made whereby we were enabled to 
occupy the only Indian vacant house there was. It 
was an adobe structure of one single room. And in 
that room our blankets were stretched out and, 
packed like sardines in a box, we went to sleep. We 
four girls were on one side, followed ioj Mrs. Young 
and the Professor, then the four boys and one of the 
Mexican drivers. D.r. James and the other driver 
had to be contented by stretching out at right angles 
at our feet. 

UP TO ORAIBI 

The next morning we were up bright and early 
and after getting all our belongings thoroughly dried 
we started for the village, which was perched high 
on the mesa top several hundred feet above the level 
of the surrounding desert. The last part of the trail 
we had to climb between rocks, where the pathway 
had been hewn out, somewhat after the style of the 
Acoma trail. As soon as we reached the top of this 
rock the village was spread out before us. 

This is the largest as well as the most western of 
the Hopi villages or towns. It has a population of 
about one thousand. While in many respects the life 
is similar to that of the pueblo Indians at Acoma, 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



225 



Lagima and Zuni, there are many points of cliffei-- 
ence, all of wliieli it would be interesting to note. But 
we were here particularly to see tlie Snake Dance. 
This is the Hopis' prayer for rain. It is conducted in 
live of the seven villages, but in each village only 
every two vears. It alternates each vear witli aii- 




Copyright by George Wharton James 

ANTELOPE ALTAR, ORAIBL ARIZ. 



other most interesting ceremony called the Flute 
Dance, which is also a prayer that an abundance of 
water may come up from the interior of the earth into 
the springs and creeks. 

The open air dance, which we w^ere about to see, is, 
in reality, only a very small part of this elaborate 



226 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

prayer for rain. For nine cla3^s and nights secret 
ceremonies transpired in the sacred kivas of the Ante- 
lope and Snake clans, to whom has been especially 
committed the charge of these particular prayers and 
ceremonies. No person, not even a Hopi, unless he be 
a member of one or the other of these clans, is per- 
mitted to see the sacred kiva ceremonies. The Hopis 
firmly believe that, if any person not authorized to 
participate in them even so much as stands on the top 
of the kiva and peeps down the ladder-way, one of 
two awful punishments will happen to him. He will 
either find a great horn, like a cornucopia, growing 
out of his forehead through which, little by little, the 
whole of his abdominal viscera, etc., will be with- 
drawn, or he will ^^ swell up and bust." Dr. James, 
however, being a member of the Antelope clan, was 
given free access to both the Snake kiva and the 
Antelope kiva and as we stood near the top when he 
went do^m, we could distinctly hear the low hum- 
ming song of the priests, gradually swelling to a 
crescendo and then diminishing until its sound 
scarcely reached our ears. 

It was explained to us that these sacred ceremo- 
nies consisted largely in singing, prayers, and the 
dramatic representation in song of the history of their 
mythical ancestor-hero Tiyo, and the way in which 
he was instructed by ^^ Those Above" in these rain- 
producing ceremonies. Part of the time, on four 
separate days, is occupied by the priests in going to 
the four quarters, north, south, east and west, hunting 
for the snakes or ^^ Elder Brothers" as the Hopis 
firmly regard them. 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 



227 



At noon on the ninth day, which was the day of our 
arrival, tlie ceremony of Washing the Snakes takes 
place in the kiva. At this time all the snakes that 
have been gathered are solemnly dipped by the chief 
priests into a bowl of sacred water, while other priests 







awj, -« iijAii^i \At£ 




t^WjpBS? 


ifci^ai:siil'rsi*r 


E -i 


".^m 




H 


1 


^ m 


1 



SNAKE DANCE, ORAIBI, ARIZ., SHOWING LINES OF ANTELOPE AND 

SNAKE PRIESTS 



pray and sing. It is a thrilling ceremony and though 
fully described to us, it would occupy too much space 
to reproduce here.. 



THE HOPI SXAKE DAXCE 

Just before sunset, the open air public dance be- 
gins. To this everybody is welcome, and the result is 
that the housetops around the plaza are crowded with 
spectators. Hopis, Navahoes, Havasupais and other 



228 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



Indians, together with white men and women who 
have gathered from all parts of the globe assemble 
early in the afternoon so that they may have a good 
point of vantage from which to watch the ceremonies. 
We were well located so that we were able to see prac- 
tically everything that transpired, and as everything 




Copyright by George Wharton James 

ON A HOPI HOUSETOP, ARIZONA 



had been thoroughly described to us, we were pre- 
pared to observe intelligently. 

When all was ready the chief priest of the Ante- 
lope clan, followed by all the other priests, ascended 
from their kiva and then solemnly marched in single 
file to the dance plaza. Here a cottonwood bower had 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



!29 



been erected, the lower part of which was surrounded 
with a wide strip of canvas. This bower is called the 
ki-si. In this ki-si the snakes had already been placed 
that were to be used in the dance, and were in charge 
of the Warrior Priest. 

As soon as the Antelope Priests reached the ki-si, 




Copyrigbt by George Wharton Jaiins 

A GROUP OF SNAKE PRIESTS CARRYING DEADLY SNAKES, HOPI 
SNAKE DANCE, ARIZONA 



they circled three times, and then lined up in a 
straight row with their backs to the ki-si, singing and 
shaking their rattles during the whole time. In a 
short time the Snake priests followed in single file 
from their kiva, circled in front of the ki-si as the 



230 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

Antelope priests had done and then formed their line 
facing the Antelope priests, a distance of about three 
feet away. Then for fifteen or twenty minutes they 
sang and went through a number of fascinating, 
rhythmic movements that, for want of a better name, 
we call a dance. 

Now, at a signal from the Chief Snake Priest, his 
line of priests broke up into groups of three, while 
the AntelojDC priests still remained in line. Solemnly 
advancing towards the ki-si the leader of the first 
group knelt and received from the Warrior Priest 
within, a writhing, wriggling snake. Carefully and 
deliberately placing this between his teeth, and hold- 
ing it there, he arose, while the second man of his 
group placed his arm around his neck. Now, fol- 
lowed by the third member of the group, stroking 
each of them with his feather- whip, the group began 
the circuit of the dance plaza, while the second group 
advanced to the ki-si and in turn received a snake. As 
they secured their reptile and began to circle, the 
third group advanced and so on until all the groups 
were supplied with a snake. In the meantime the 
carrier of the snake of the first group, as soon as he 
had gone about two-thirds of the circuit, took the 
snake from his mouth and placed it upon the ground, 
resuming the dance and circling again to the ki-si, 
where he secured a fresh snake. It then became the 
duty of the third man of each group to pick up from 
the ground the snakes that had been placed down. 
Sometimes this act of picking them up was quite 
exciting, as the snakes would coil and threaten to 
strike. When they did this, the ^^ gatherer" gently 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 231 

stroked them with his snake-whip, the feathers of 
wliich tickled them and led them to try to escape. 
The moment they were uncoiled they were seized and 
placed in the left hand of the gatherer with as much 
unconcern and indifference as if they were pieces of 
inanimate rope. 

In this fashion the dance continued until all the 
snakes had been used, after which they were thrown 
into a circle described on the ground by the chief 
priest with sacred meal. Here they were prayed over 
for a few minutes, sprinkled with more meal and 
sacred water and then at a given signal the Snake 
Priests made a wild grab into the writhing, rattling, 
wriggling mass, each one picking up as many snakes 
in each hand as he could seize, and after allowing 
himself a moment or two to straighten out the snakes 
in his hands, dashed down the steep trails, some in 
one direction and some in another, to certain desig- 
nated spots in the desert beneath, where, reverently 
putting the snakes down and praying over them, they 
left them, with the expectation that they would con- 
vey to the ^^ Snake Mother" in the Underworld, all 
the prayers that had been uttered by the Hopis dur- 
ing these ceremonies in their hearing. Then, hastily 
returning to their kivas each priest took a large drink 
of a liquid that looks much like cold tea. This was 
evidently for the purpose of producing vomiting, for, 
almost immediately after drinking, the priests knelt 
down in a row for that purpose. As soon as the 
vomiting was done, they were washed down with 
water brought for the purpose by the women and then 
retired to the secrecy of the kiva, there to feast upon 



232 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



certain delicacies prepared for them by the women, 
thus terminating the ceremony. 

Naturally I have described everything in the 
briefest and most inadequate terms, but those who 




A HOPI MOTHER AND CHILD, ORAIBI, ARIZ. 



wish to know more about this most wierd and thrill- 
ing ceremony can not do better than secure Dr. 
James's book, *^The Indians of the Painted Desert 
Eegion," in which the whole ceremonial is thoroughly 
and accurately described. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AXI) PEOPLES 233 

A DESERT SAND STORM 

On our return to Canyon Diablo we had another 
experience, thus fulfilling the promise that had been 
made that we should have specimens of all that the 
desert had to offer. We had driven about twenty 
miles, noticing, however, on the way, several wagons 
and buggies that had been mired in the quicksand 
that, at the time of the storm, had so nearly entrapped 
us. Suddenly, in the far-away west, there appeared 
a dark, cloudlike wave wdiich seemed to be moving 
slowly in our direction. It was reasonably clear and 
calm all around us and none of us could understand 
what this wave-like appearance meant until we were 
told that it was a sand-storm approaching us with 
considerable rapidity. We hastened our teams along, 
hoping to reach a spring, w^here we intended to stay 
for our noon lunch, before the storm arrived. But 
our efforts were vain. When about a mile off, the 
gigantic wave of fluid sand, which by now reached 
from the earth to so high in the sky as completely to 
obliterate everything else, surrounded us with its dis- 
comforting fury. The animals positively refused to 
go any further, so that we were compelled to unhar- 
ness them and wait the abating of the storm. In 
order somewhat to mitigate its fury, canvas was 
stretched from wagon to wagon, l)ehind which we 
sheltered ourselves, but the force of the wind can be 
understood when I state that, while we were thus 
sheltered, one piece of the canvas was seized by the 
wind and ripped up the center as if it had been a 
sheet of tissue paper. 



234 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



Here we stayed for about three hours, when, some 
of us growing hungry, we asked if we could not be 
provided with food. Laughingly our guide ques- 
tioned if we knew what we were asking for. With 




THE SAN FRANCISCO MOUNTAINS, NEAR FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. 



some indignation we replied that we thought we did. 
Immediately he went to the ^'grub-box," and taking 
therefrom a sack of buttered biscuits, gave one to 
each of us, together with an orange. We now under- 
stood the meaning of his question, for, as we tried to 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 235 

eat, the sand got into our mouths so that it was ])rae- 
tically impossible. The only thing we could do was 
to suck our oranges and patiently await the sub- 
sidence of the storm. 

This occurred in due time and we were able to 
reach a satisfactory camping-place that night, and 
the following day caught the train at Canyon Diablo 
for Flagstaff. 



FLAGSTAFF AND THE LOW^ELL OBSERVATORY 

Flagstaff certainly has as picturesque a location as 
any of the Arizona towns or cities we saw on the tri]3. 
Situated on the foot-hills of the San Francisco Moun- 
tains, which tower over them to a height of over 
11,000 feet, and surrounded by forests of juniper, 
pine and other mountain trees, it is rugged, pic- 
turesque and healthful. 

The town has a large lumber-mill. It daily saws 
up many hundreds of thousands of feet of luml^er 
which it sends east and west all over the country. 
Flagstaff used to be one of the points from whicli 
stages ran to the Grand Canyon, but owing to 
the building of the Grand Canyon Eailway from 
AYilliams in the year 1900, the stage route is now 
seldom used. 

Perched on a summit overlooking the town is tlie 
Lowell Observatory, so named after the well-known 
astronomer, Percival Lowell, of Boston, Mass., whose 
observations and writings on the planet ^lars have 
excited interest not only among scientists but 



236 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



throughout the hiy world as well. We visited the 
observatory and were kindly received by the astron- 
omer in charge and given every opportunity to see 
the methods by which the observations and photo- 
graphs were taken. 




CLIFF DWELLINGS, WALNUT CANYON 



TO THE CLIFF AND CAVE DWELLINGS 

Oim chief object, however, in stopping off at Flag- 
staff was to drive out to the Cliff and Cave Dwellings. 
We went to these latter places first. We found them 
to be nothing but good sized holes, mainly found in 
the lava deposits on the tops of some of the smaller 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 237 

volcanic peaks east and south of the main San Fran- 
cisco range. There were quite a number of them 
and near tlie most remote of tliose visited we picked 
up a number of pieces of pottery and saw several 
broken me-ta-tes or grinding-stones which evidently 
had seen much service. 

We then left for Walnut Canyon, to see the Cliff 
Dwellings, some ten or a dozen miles away, passing 
on the road a very deep hole, locally known as the 
Bottomless Pit, and then after driving a mile or two 
over a beautifully wooded plain, we came to Walnut 
Canyon. Here we camped, and, after taking lunch, 
proceeded to climb down its steep slopes to the nar- 
row shelf on which the Cliff Dwellings were located. 
They were all of the same type. The under portion 
of the thick stratum of rock, being much softer than 
the upper portion, had eroded back to a depth of 
eight, ten and even tAvelve feet from the face of the 
cliff. These natural excavations seem to have been 
perfectly prepared for the Indians who wished to 
use them. Building up a wall in front and dividing 
walls at right angles, the excavations thus formed 
floor and ceiling and the dwelling was complete. We 
found a number of these dwellings in this canyon, 
and at Flagstaff, on our return, were shown many 
pieces of potterv, arrowheads, stone and flint ham- 
mers, axes, ears of corn, etc, which had been exca- 
vated from them. 

While there are many local differences m the clitt 
ruins throughout the Southwest, they are mostly of 
this simple and primitive type. 



238 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

ON TO WILLIAMS 

Taking the train again, it was a comparatively short 
ride to AVilliams, where we were to take train for 
the Grand Canyon. Here, also, we fonnd the lumber 
industry quite active and thriving. A large mill is 
in constant operation, superintended by Mr. W. F. 
Dermont, who used to be a noted lumberman of 
Michigan, and who kindly extended to us the cour- 
tesy of the milL We saw the logs rapidly skidded 
up by machinery to the saw, and there in a few swift 
backward and forward motions of the log-carriage 
and the sudden whirl of the saw, we witnessed the 
rapid slicing off of the bark slabs and then the cut- 
ting of the good timber into planks of whatever size 
they were best suited for. 

We wished we could climb to the summit of 
Williams mountain, named after Bill Williams, one 
of Fremont's scouts, of whom we heard many inter- 
esting stories on our trip; but our time was too 
limited and the Grand Canyon was our chief object. 

After one of Fred Harvey's excellent meals, 
served at the Fray Marcos Hotel, we boarded the 
Grand Canyon train, which runs sixty-three miles 
north, to the very edge of the great abyss. 

When the varied objects were pointed out to us as 
we journeyed along, even this part of the road was 
interesting; but we were not much in the mood to 
look at lesser things when we were so near to the 
great canyon which we were told is "the most stu- 
pendous piece of natural scenery on earth." We 
Americans are so used to saying big things about 



SOME STRAXCE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 239 

our own big country, that sometimes we were a little 
afraid this niiglit be true about the Grand Canyon, 
but Dr. James, who has visited it regularly for over 
twenty years, assured us that it would surpass all 
our expectations and tliat we did not need to be 
alarmed. As we approached nearer to the canyon 
we could tell from the puffing of our engine that we 
were going up grade. For several miles this grade 
continued until tlie very ^^rim" of the canyon was 
reached — nobody calls it ^^edge" here ; the only word 
used is ^'^rim." We were soon at El Tovar, the hotel 
which is perched ahuost on the edge of the soutli rim. 
As soon as the train stopped we piled out as rapidly 
as possible and climbed up the steps that led to the 
hotel. AVe did not need to ask where the canyon was, 
for the moment we stood on the front porch the 
great, vast, majestic, sublime abyss was opened up 
before us. 

Lots of people say that ^' where the Canyon 
begins, words end," but, all the same, I am going 
to try to put into words that which I saw; or else 
how can you have any idea of the impressions that I 
received ? 

An irregular stone wall about two feet high has 
been built on the very edge, and on this you can sit 
while you try to grasp some idea of the wonderful 
sight that is before us. From where we sat to the 
corresponding point on the opposite side is thirteen 
miles in an air line. Our elevation was 6,863 feet. 
The north wall is 8,300 feet. That is a part of the 
great Kaibab plateau, which is the highest portion 
of the whole canvon svstem. Somewhere between 



240 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

the awful depths between these walls which are so 
far apart dashes the surging Colorado River on its 
way from the mountains to the sea. 

Can you imagine the banks of a river so far apart ? 
And we have to take the river on faith, for we cannot 
even see it. Sometimes, when it is especially noisy 
and everything on the rim is quiet, one can hear its 
sullen roar. But we have to go to other outlook 
points before we can get any sight of it at all. 

The first thing that arrested our attention was 
that the main color of the walls is red. The walls 
do not go sheer up and down, as some of us had 
thought. They are broken up, as it were, in all kinds 
of confused ways, and yet we could see that if the 
two sides of the canyon were pushed together, and 
made to conform in elevation, the bands of limestone 
and sandstone on the north rim would fit similar 
bands on the south rim. 

As I sat on the banks of the canyon all alone one 
morning with Dr. James 's book, ' ' The Grand Canyon 
of Arizona, ' ' in my hand, this is what I wrote : 

'^ About the best way I can describe the canyon 
is to ask you to imagine yourself standing on the 
top of the highest peak of a long mountain range. 
Everybody knows, generally speaking, how a moun- 
tain range looks. Now try to suppose that the top- 
most part of this range has a hinge, and that you 
are able suddenly to lift up each side of the mountain 
slope until the hinged summit ridge has become the 
deep trench of a rude ^ V shaped gorge, and then that 
this whole mass of the inverted range is thrust deep 
down into the earth at your feet. This is a rude sug- 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 241 

gestion of what the canyon is ; but the eye now l)e|[]^ins 
to take in the fact that this deep inverted mountain 
range is composed of rude steps, as it were, three 
hundred, five hundred, a thousand feet high, and of 
slightly differing colors, but wliere red predominates, 
and that they are cut into all kinds of conceivable 
and inconceivable shapes, gigantic in size, fantastic 
in form, and truly unlike anything we have ever 
seen before." 

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was close 
upon setting, so that great purple shadows were cast, 
and these enabled our guide to point out some of 
the tremendous and fantastic forms and nature 
sculpturings that he said he would show to us so 
much more clearly when we rode down tlie trail to 
the river. He had already promised that we were 
to stay here a full week, possibly more ; for he says 
that this is the only way to get a fairly reasonable 
idea of the marvels and wonders of this stupendous 
gorge. 

Before us, slightly to the right, we saw a break in 
the North wall. This is Bright Angel Canyon, and 
down it flows a beautiful clear stream called Bright 
Angel Creek. To the right of this we could clearly 
see three massive towers. The nearest is an angular 
mass of solid rocks which slopes backward in a 
singular fashion. This is called Zoroaster Temple 
and is 7,136 feet in elevation. Close behind it is a 
more beautiful and stately structure, Brahma 
Temple, which is 7,554 feet high. Behind Brahma 
is another great mass, which at first we were not 
able to see clearly, although we were assured that it 



242 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

is separated from the north wall by a distance of 
several miles. To us it looked as if it were a part 
of that wall. It is Deva Temple, 7,354 feet high. 

To the left of Bright Angel Gorge, almost oppo- 
site Brahma, is Buddha Temple, 7,218 feet in height, 
while below it is Buddha Cloister. Behind is Manu 
Temple, 7,192 feet. To the left of Buddha is a quaint 
and peculiarly shaped temple named Cheops Pyra- 
mid, 5,350 feet high. Just above and farther to the 
left is a peculiar yet beautiful temple, with two great 
cloisters in front of it, and it is named Isis Temple. 
Its elevation is 7,028 feet. Beyond it is the grandest 
and most stupendous of all the buttes of this part 
of the canyon. This is 7,650 feet high. Its mass 
alone is as great as Mount Washington, the chief 
peak of the White Mountains in New Hampshire 
and the highest mountain of all the United States 
east of the Rocky Mountains. Yet here Shiva's 
Temple was but a comparatively small and insig- 
nificant portion of the rocky scenery that was spread 
out before us. It is a singular and never-to-be- 
forgotten fact that the tops of these mountain masses 
are at about the same elevation as the ground on 
which we stand, and their bases are ''way down" in 
the heart of the canyon in that deep ''somewhere," 
the bottom of which we had yet to see. Some of 
the walls of Shiva's Temple are as absolutely pre- 
cipitous as the Bunker Hill monument and three or 
four times as high. 

To the west of Isis are Horus and Osiris temples. 
The former is 6,150 and the latter 6,637 feet. In 
front of Horus is a tower, or symmetrical struc- 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 243 

ture, 5,997 feet high, which is called Rah Pyramid. 
Although it is over a mile high, it looks very insig- 
nificant in this scenery. 

^Ye were told that this canyon is 217 miles lont?;. 
But that is only the length of the river in this part 
of the canyon. As we looked at the great walls 
opposite us, winding in and out of deep recesses and 
curving around vast amphitheaters, it seemed to l)e 
no exaggeration to imagine that if they were ''ironed 
out" into a straight line they w^ould be pretty nearly 
long enough to completely encircle the earth. 

Having taken in all these vast rocky features 
which w^ere before us, our eyes naturally dropped to 
what appeared to be the lowest part of the canyon 
nearest to us. This is a great plateau called Angel 
Plateau. Its elevation is 3,876 feet. So we were 
looking down a sheer three thousand feet less ten. 
In what seemed to be about the center of this plateau 
was a beautiful green patch which we were told is 
called Indian Garden. Here, years ago, the Hava- 
supai Indians used to cultivate a little ground 
wherein they grew their melons, squash, onions, 
beans and chili. Now the white people use it as a 
garden for growing watermelons, cantaloupes and 
the smaller vegetables which form tasty additions 
to the lunches that those who ride down the canyon 
generally bring with them from the hotel. 

While w^e were looking at all these things the sun 
was sinking nearer and nearer to the horizon. The 
deeper it got, the more intense and black became the 
shadows in the canyon, and, strange to say, the more 
clearly we were able to pick out the towers and 



244 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



temples that at first sight looked so indistinct and 
hazy. And, oh, the brilliant colorings of the heavens 
and the earth ! They seemed to combine to make one 
gorgeous mass of splendid and variegated color such 




EL TOVAR HOTEL, GRAND CANYON 



as we had never seen before. All of our attention 
was then arrested by the sunset. Darts of brilliant 
red, fiery opal, gleams of scintillating brightness, 
threatening arms of inky blackness, reds, pinks, 
oranges, golds, chocolates, greens and grays, com- 
mingled, broke away, changed, united, dispersed and 
formed new combinations, yet each new one was 
grander, more gorgeous and sublime than the one 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 245 

that preceded it. Well may people rhapsodize over 
the gorgeousness of the Grand Canyon sunsets. 



EL TOVAK HOTEL 

As soon as the sun had gone down ^Ye turned our 
attention to the hotel. What a large and interesting 
structure it is! It is different from any hotel we 
ever saw before. Built about in the center of the 
curve of a rude amphitheater, its location is some- 
what lower than the giant arms of the amphitheater. 
It is close to the rim and is built in such harmonious 
fashion that it does not seem out of place in its 
rugged setting, as a hotel built on the conventional 
lines certainly would do. The proper way to see 
it is to walk about half a mile, and then it appears 
like a large three-storied bungalow, built, the first 
story of solid logs brought from far-away Oregon, 
and the upper stories of heavy planking and shingles, 
all stained to a weather-beaten brown that harmo- 
nizes with the gray-green of the trees which form 
its immediate background. 

In architecture it reminds one somewhat of the 
pictures seen of Swiss chalets, and also of Norwegian 
mansions. We wondered whether it was a ^^ dressy'' 
hotel and whether all the lady and gentleman visitors 
felt that they had to ^^ dress for dinner." We soon 
found out, however, that there were no such conven- 
tional restrictions. While everybody dressed nicely, 
nobody seemed to care how anybody else dressed, and 
there was perfect freedom and good-fellowship 
without the restrictions of a conventional citv hotel. 



246 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

There was a picture-room and news-stand where 
most beautiful photographs, sketches and paintings 
of the canyon and the Indians could be purchased, 
and a large hall decorated with interesting and strik- 
ing heads of elk, mountain-sheep, mountain-lions, 
deer and antelope. The floors were covered with 
beautiful Navaho blankets. 

It was soon dinner-time and we were shown to 
our rooms. They were just as comfortable and cozy 
as they could be, and yet by cozy I do not mean small, 
for they were large and airy. We had a fine bath- 
room attached to our bedroom, and in five minutes 
were enjoying a good hot bath. We dressed quickly, 
in order not to be late at dinner, and then all of us 
sat together at a table provided for us in the 
dining-room. 

Professor Young occupied the head of the table 
and Dr. James was at the foot. And what a good 
dinner they gave us ! But that was nothing new, as 
El Tovar is one of the Fred Harvey hotels, and all 
the way along from Chicago we had been learning 
why they have gained such a great reputation. Every 
meal seemed to be better than the one preceding it. 

The dining-room is quadrangular in form, ninety 
feet long by forty feet wide, and arched overhead. 
The roof is supported by six huge log trusses. Every- 
thing is finished in rough wood dyed as brown as 
the coffee-berry. Two massive fireplaces built of 
gray sandstone stand one at each end. It is lighted 
by electric light, and through the triple windows 
we looked out to see the brilliant Arizona stars. 
How clear the sky was! 



SOME STEANGE PLzVCES AND PEOPLES 



247 



Though we had a good dinner, we did not linger 
over it too long, as we were all wishing to get another 
glimpse of the canyon before going to bed, and Dr. 
James told us that tomorrow we were going out to 
Grand View Point and beyond. 







mi^^^:fjj0 



«^^"#*-^^V'*-^ 



aMi^klkygvas>.^ia^ - 




ANGEL PLATEAU. BELOW EL TOVAR HOTEL. GRAND CANYON OF 

ARIZONA 



OUT TO GRAND VIEW POINT AND BEYOND 

El Tovar is provided with a magnificently equipped 
stable, with saddle-horses, mules, pack-burros, car- 
riages, buggies, tallylioes, etc., and it was planned 
for us that in the morning we should ride in a tallyho 
sixteen miles to the east, to the magnificent outlook 
known as Grand View Point, and then still farther 



248 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

east on saddle-horses that were to be taken on ahead 
to be ready for us on our arrival. 

We were a happy and buoyant lot as we climbed 
into the tallyho, and there was a good-natured fight 
as to who should ride with the driver. I was one 
of the fortunate ones. The drive was through 
scrubby-looking juniper and pinion trees, and a little 
distance out we turned towards the canyon rim to 
get the view from Yavapai Point. This point is only 
three miles from the hotel, yet it is amazing how 
di:fferent the canyon looks than when seen from the 
hotel. Here we caught two distinct glimpses of the 
river. To the far-away east we could see wdiere the 
Little Colorado enters into the main Colorado River ; 
and in the heart of the canyon were two majestic 
buttes, one with a flat top, called Wotan's Throne, 
with an elevation of 7,700 feet, and the other, Vishnu 
Temple, wonderfully carved by centuries of erosion, 
7,537 feet high. Just in front of Wotan's Throne is 
Angel Gate. It received this name as follows : Long 
ago there was a great and wise Indian chief, whose 
wife died. He mourned for her and would not be 
comforted until Ta-vwoats, one of the Indian gods, 
came and told him that she had gone to a happier 
and more beautiful land. He offered to take the 
chief there if he would pledge himself to mourn no 
more on his return. He received the promise and 
brought the chief down a rough, wild and rocky trail 
which he had made between the mountains, and took 
him to the fair land of Southern California, where 
the wife was found dwelling happily with other dis- 
embodied spirits. After their return the god turned 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 249 

the great river into the trail he had made, in order 
to prevent tlie Indians from visiting the favored land 
without his permission. But he promised that at 
some future time he would come again and lead the 
Indians into this beautiful land. So now every j^ear 
at a certain time the medicine men of different tribes 
meet at a certain place on the north rim of the canyon 
and there watch for the coming of the god. As he is 
to appear through this gateway, it was deemed 
appropriate to give it the name of Angel Gate. 

While we were listening to this story we were 
driven along until, shortly before reaching Grand 
View Hotel, we came to an amphitheater where stand 
two remarkable pillars of erosion, Pompey's Pillar 
and Thor's Hammer. The hotel is a log structure 
and has a frame annex, and the view from either 
building is a remarkable one ; bvit we drove right out 
to Grand View Point. Here it seems as if the canyon 
were widened out and also scooped out, so that we got 
a clearer and fuller view not only of the river, but of 
a vast assemblage of gigantic towers, temples, buttes, 
walls, obelisks, cloisters and abutments. We stayed 
here for a couple of hours enjoying the expansive 
view to the full. 

After a picnic lunch we all took to the saddle, 
and, though none of us were expert riders, we were 
soon galloping through one of the beautiful parks 
that line the canyon as we proceeded farther east. 
Three miles from Grand View we reached the cabin 
of John Hance, one of the old Grand Canyon guides, 
and a remarkable story-teller whose funny and fan- 
tastic stories have been repeated until he has gained 



250 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



national fame. Near by is a trail known by his 
name, and down it Dr. James says lie made liis first 
visit to the Grand Canyon, over twenty years ago. 
Here we saw the wonderful Three Castles and Ayer 
Peak, with other stupendous monuments, and then 
rode on to the head of Red Canyon trail. But we 




AYER PEAK, NEAR OLD HANCE TRAIL, GRAND CANYON OF 

ARIZONA 



were bound for a still further ride and pushed on 
east until we came to Moran Point, so named because 
it was here that Thomas Moran, the great artist, 
painted one of his marvelous pictures of the Grand 
Canyon. Two miles beyond Moran Point is Zuni 
Point, and still farther Navaho Point, Desert View, 
Comanche Point, and Cape Solitude. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 251 

By this time a number of us were very tired w ith 
our ride, and we wondered how we w^ere goin^ to 
get back. But w^e w^ere delighted to learn that this 
was to be another camping-out trip, and that w^e were 
to sleep out. Our blankets had been sent for the 
purpose on pack-burros. Already a negro cook w^as 
busy getting our supper ready by a camp-fire, wdiile 
some little distance off a bonfire had been built for 
us and our blankets were being stretched out on the 
ground in accordance with the instructions of Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Young. What a delightful surprise ! 
Nobody had said a word to us about it, yet there we 
w^ere in this solitary spot and going to sleep out again 
in the open air, wdth the promise of two or three 
nights' camping in the canyon. After a hearty 
supper we took another look at the canyon by sunset, 
and then sat around the camp-fire wdiile Dr. James 
told us Indian legends of the canyon and then induced 
the young men wdio had come to take care of our 
horses to tell us some of their experiences. What a 
wild, exciting life that of an Arizona cowboy must be ! 
These experiences w^hich w^ere so remarkable to us 
w^ere a part of their everyday life, and they laughed 
at the notions w^e expressed. When the time came 
w^e w^ere all ordered off to bed, and Mrs. Young 
laughingly told us to ^^ close the door and keep out 
the drafts.'' 

As soon as I w^as comfortably ensconced in my 
blanket, my eyes instinctively sought the stars. They 
seemed larger, nearer, clearer and more beautiful 
than I had ever seen them before, and now and again 
a falling star made a brilliant flash of light through 



252 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

the dark as almost to startle me. How calm and 
serene the stars were! I think I can now see why 
Dr. James loves so much to live out in this wild 
country, sleeping in the open all the time. 

During the night w^e were aw^akened by what 
seemed to be the barks, yelps, howls, cries and wails 
of a thousand or more coyotes, but we were solemnly 
assured that all that noise and racket was made by 
not more than three or four of those cowardly 
animals. 

Before sunrise we were all awakened, and, though 
the air was crisp, we hurried to the Point in order 
to get all the effect of the sunrise, which we expected 
would be unusually beautiful on account of the banks 
of clouds that appeared m the heavens. 

One would have to have the power of a John 
Ruskin or a Joaquin Miller to describe that wonder- 
ful sunrise. When the morning did fully break and 
the whole canyon was flooded with light, we thought 
how perfectly truthful a description w^ere the words 
of Browning as quoted to us : 

''Day boils at last: 
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim 
Where spurting and suppressed it lay, 
For not a froth-flake touched the rim 
Of yonder gap in the solid gray 
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away ; 
But forth one wavelet, then another, curled. 
Till the whole sunrise, not to be suppressed, 
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast 
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed 
the world." 



SOME STKAXGE PLACES AXD PEOPLES 253 

After breakfast we took another general survey 
of the canyon at this point. The scene is no more 
like that presented at El Tovar than Broadway, New 
York, is like Market Street, San Francisco. Of 
course it was all rocky scenery, but so entirely dif- 




COLORADO RIVER, NEAR FOOT OF BASS TRAIL, GRAND CANYON 

OF ARIZONA 



ferent! Here, for miles, we could see the winding 
course of the Colorado River as it dashed between 
the walls of Marble Canyon. To our right were the 
beautifully colored Echo Cliffs, while stretching 
off towards the far-away horizon was the Painted 
Desert. Close by we could see where the Little Colo- 
rado joins the main Canyon coming in from the 



254 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 

south ; while to the left were Yishnu Temple, Wotan's 
Throne, Solomon's Temple, and a score of other 
buttes carved and sculptured by Nature in the heart 
of the canyon. Surely no band of school children 
that ever lived were privileged to gaze upon a more 
wonderful scene than were we ! 



DOWN THE RED CANYON TRAIL 

It avas nearly noon before we left, so each of us was 
given a ^4iand lunch'' to eat as we liked. To our 
delight, we then found that we were to be taken down 
the Red Canyon trail, there to camp at night close 
by the side of the rapids of the raging, swirling, 
turbulent, dashing, muddy Colorado. 

It took us all the afternoon to ride back and 
descend the Red Canyon trail. My! my! I little 
thought that animals could be found that were strong 
and sure-footed enough to take people down such 
trails as that. Dr. James told us that, as a rule, 
tourists are brought out by this trail rather than 
taken down it, as it is easier to ride up a steep trail 
than to ride down. 

How the trail winds and twists around in places ! 
Ahead of us went the pack-mules and burros, one 
or two of them having bells round their necks which 
clanged and jangled at every step. We can now 
understand how careful the ^^boys" must be in fixing 
the packs upon the backs of these animals, for if 
they were carelessly adjusted, the heavy loads w^ould 
pitch the poor creatures forward when they descend 
some of the steep places that occur on the trail. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 255 

Several times we got off and walked, and three 
or four times when we came to places where we could 
all stop, Dr. James gave us a most interesting talk 
about the peculiar rock formations that were shown 
on either side. He informed us that the lowest series 
of strata found in Red Canyon are known as the 
Algonkian, and that they are supposed to be the oldest 
stratified rocks in the world. He showed us how tlie 
geologists tell that, although there are now only frag- 
ments left of these strata, about five hundred feet in 
height, they clearly indicate that at one time they 
were twelve thousand feet thick at this point. Wlien 
we asked where the other eleven thousand five hun- 
dred feet had gone, he said that they were washed 
away in prehistoric times, and that possibly their 
destruction helped to supply the sand for the great 
Mohave and Colorado deserts in Southern Califor- 
nia. He then went on to tell us that geologists claim 
that in the neighborhood of twenty-six thousand five 
hundred feet of strata, in addition to the five thou- 
and feet that still remain at the Canyon, were de- 
posited in the early centuries of the world's history 
and have since been entirely swept away. It scarcely 
seems possible, but the scientists who have studied 
the canyon affirm that it is so . 

No wonder that after we had had our camp-out 
supper and were once more stretched out in our 
blankets under the brilliant stars, with the sullen 
roar of the Colorado Eiver in our ears, the marvel 
and awe of it all kept us wide awake that night ! 

In the morning we were treated to another 
pleasant surprise. Though telling us nothing about it, 



256 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

Mrs. Young had secured bathing suits from the hotel, 
and with Professor Young, Dr. James and three of 
the ^^ cowboys" who had promised to go swimming 
with us and protect us from personal danger, we 
were to enjoy the unique and strange experience of 
a swim in the Colorado River in the heart of the 
Grand Canyon. There was a wild, raging, dashing, 
splashing rapid a little below where we were to go in, 
but the river makes a kind of sheltering curve at this 
point, so that we were shown that if we kept within 
certain limits we could swim to our heart's content 
and in perfect safety. How delicious the water was, 
and how soothing to our bodies, somewhat wearied 
as they were with the unusual exercise of horseback 
riding. We enjoyed thoroughly our swim and paddle 
in the water, and it gave us such an appetite for 
breakfast that we were almost ashamed when, after 
having received such an abundant first helping of 
everything, we had to ask for more. After break- 
fast we watched with a great deal of interest the 
packing up of the cooking utensils, our bedding, and 
the few provisions that remained. 

After a pack-saddle is put on, the smaller and 
heavier articles that are to be packed are placed in 
two boxes made of light wood and rawhide with the 
hair still left on. These boxes are called kyaxes. They 
are suspended to the pack-saddle by means of a rope 
securely fastened at each end, one on each side of 
the animal. The bulkier articles, such as camp- 
kettles, coffeepots, etc., are then put partially in the 
kyaxes and partly resting on the pack-saddle, and 
above these is piled the bedding and light stufE, the 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 257 

whole pack being covered with a stout canvas. Now 
comes the process of t}dng it on, and this is done in 
a peculiar and interesting manner known to Western- 
ers as ''throwing the diamond hitch," which is 
regarded as the final test of a man's full abandon- 
ment of the title ''tenderfoot." No tenderfoot can 
throw a diamond hitch, and as soon as he learns to 
do that he is called a tenderfoot no longer. 

Packs all on, the signal to start was given, and 
another surprise and delight was given to us. We 
were told that we were not to go back the way we 
came, but were to have the unusual experience of a 
ride through the canyon, over by the old Hance trail 
and out by the Grand View trail. 

The ride took us all day, for we took our time 
and enjoyed everything as we journeyed along. In 
Hance Canyon we were shown the Temple of Set, 
named by Thomas Moran, and heard some interesting 
experiences of early days from Dr. James. 

Then slowly we began the upward climb, and 
finally reached the Horseshoe Mesa, about half way 
up the Grand View trail, in time for supper. We 
sat at the same table with the miners who were taking 
silver and copper ore out of the mine a little distance 
away. After supper, the superintendent took us 
through the mine and we saw where tons of ore had 
been removed, every ounce of which had been packed 
up to the rim on the back of ])iu*ros, and tlien liauled 
by wagon to the railroad, twenty or more miles away, 
for shipment to the smelters. 

When we returned we found our blankets were 
already spread out not far from the miners' cabins; 



258 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

but before we went to rest we had another interesting 
experience. Each of us was provided with a candle 
and we followed our leader over the plateau or mesa 
to its very edge, and then down a somewhat ticklish 
trail to a narrow terrace, where we descended into 
the mouth of a large cave. After lighting our candles 
and looking with wonder upon the different forma- 
tions that were presented in the large and natural 
entrance hall, we began to crawl through openings 
which led us into tremendous halls, corridors and 
chambers, in all of which are stalagmites, stalactites, 
peculiar rock-ribbon formations, etc., speaking of the 
silent action of the centuries; while water charged 
with lime has slowly trickled down, making these 
interesting deposits. 

Tired out, but charmed and delighted with the 
experiences of the day, and bewildered by the many 
new and wonderful things that we had seen, we 
turned to our out-of-door bed-chamber and were soon 
sleeping the sleep of the young, happy and health- 
fully tired. 

BACK TO EL TOVAR 

While we were up early next morning, we were in 
no hurry to get away. We went down to the mine 
and watched the packing of the ore on twenty little 
burros that stood winking and flapping their ears 
while their loads were adjusted. Each animal was 
required to carry from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred pounds. It scarcely seemed possible, yet so 
strong are their sturdy little legs that when the packs 
were all finally adjusted and the leader of the burros 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 259 

started his bell jangliiii>- merrily, they all ^ot into 
line and marched oft* as steadily and sedately as if 
they were in a royal procession where re^al dignity 
was expected. Another string of pack-burros was 
sent to the spring down in the canyon to bring up 
tlie drinking water required at the camp. We now 
began to realize how very useful and indispensal)le 
is the burro in our western country. Without him, 
travelling and mining in such places as the Grand 
Canyon would practically be impossible. How inter- 
esting it is to watch the little peculiarities that in- 
dividualize these burden-carrying creatures that at 
first appear to be ahnost all alike! Our guide told 
us many interesting stories about them which, if put 
into book form, would make as interesting a book as 
young people could ever wish to read. 

It was a jolly ride back to El Tovar, where we 
all regretted to take leave of our ponies. By now 
we began to feel quite at home in the saddle. After 
a good night's rest we packed up, took a last good 
look at the Canyon, hastily visited IMallery Grotto— 
a little cave covered with Indian pictographs, about 
half a mile from the hotel— and then sorrowfully said 
farewell to the canyon. It seemed a pity that we had 
to leave this most majestic of all the natural sights 
we had so far seen, but necessity compelled. Our 
journey was rapidly coming to a close. We were 
to visit the two cities of Prescott and Phoenix, and 
then drive up to see the great Roosevelt dam, ])y 
means of which the waters of the Salt River are 
being impounded so that they can be used for irri- 



260 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



gating the lands of the valley. This would bring our 
remarkable journey to an end. 

Returning to Williams, we took the main line 
again. It was but an hour's ride to Ash Fork, where 
we changed cars for the branch road to Phoenix. 
The chief place of interest in Ash Fork is the Esca- 
lante Hotel, one of the Fred Harvey hotels, which 
derives its name from one of the Franciscan explorers 
who entered the region of Arizona and Utah about 




STREET SCENE PRESCOTT, ARIZ. 



the time that Thomas Jefferson was writing the 
Declaration of Independence. The road to Prescott 
took us over an interesting and historic part of 
Arizona, full of stories of mines, hairbreadth escapes 
from bloodthirsty Apaches, and wonderful expe- 
riences of cowboys and miners. We passed Jerome 
Junction, from which one of the most winding and 
twisting railways in the world runs up to Senator 
Clark's great copper mining-camp of Jerome, a 



SOME STEANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



261 



camp the original claim of which was sold for three 
hundred dollars. It afterwards developed into a 
mountain of copper from which Senator Clark has 
taken millions of dollars' worth of ore. 




GENERAL VIEW OF PHOENIX, SALT RIVER VALLEY 



PHOENIX AND THE SALT RIVER VALLEY 



Practically the end of this road is at Phoenix, 
the capital of Arizona and the chief city of the Salt 
River valley. Its population is between eighteen and 
twenty thousand. It is a modern city in every sense 
of the word, and yet we were surprised every now 
and again to meet with little groups of Pima and 



262 A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 

Maricopa Indians who had come to the city from 
their reservation, twenty miles away, either to sell 
their baskets and pottery or to purchase supplies. 
There is a beautiful Y. M. C.A. building, and some 
of the bank and store buildings are large and pre- 




ARIZONA SCHOOL OF MUSIC, PHOENIX, ARIZ. 

tentious. On the outskirts of the cit}^ is the territorial 
building, a striking structure, and the citizens were 
just rejoicing in their newly acquired statehood. 

But our chief interest in Phoenix lay in the fact 
that it was in the heart of the Salt Elver valley, 
where is located one of the great irrigation projects 
of the United States Eeclamation Service, which 
started out a few years ago to redeem the valley 
from its barren, desolate condition to one of the most 
fertile valleys of the world. 

Automobiles were provided for us by the courtesy 
of Messrs. Dwight B. Heard (whose wife is the 
daughter of one of Chicago's noted citizens, A. C. 



SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



263 



Bartlett) and Louis C. Hill, the supervising engineer. 
Rapidly we were whirled around Phoenix to Glen- 
dale, where we saw the great Arizona ostrich farm, 
where hundreds of these tropical birds thrive luxu- 
riously and are a source of great attraction to 




TERRITORIAL CAPITAL BUILDING, PHOENIX, ARIZ. 



tourists, and where one of the large beet-sugar fac- 
tories of Arizona is located. We were then taken to 
Tempe, where the Government's experimental date 
farm was established several years ago, which has 
already demonstrated that dates can grow as well 
in Arizona as they do on the oases in the desert of 
Sahara. We tasted a number of varieties, all of 



264 



A LITTLE JOUENEY TO 



which were richer and sweeter than the imported 
dates and were certainly much more agreeable to 
look at in their fresh condition than those which we 
buy that have been tightly packed in boxes. 

We passed through miles and miles of orange, 
grape-fruit, lemon, peach, apricot, fig and other 
orchards, and through thousands of acres devoted 




A BLACKBERRY PATCH IN THE SALT RIVER VALLEY 



to berries and alfalfa. The fruit of these orchards 
was as charming to the eye as it was delicious to the 
taste, the oranges and grape-fruit being especially 
of very fine quality and. ripening earlier than those 
that grow in California. Frost is unknown, and there 
are no pests, so that the oranges always look clean 
and beautiful. Many thousand head of cattle are 
annually brought into this valley for the purpose of 
being fattened for the Arizona and California mar- 



SOME STRAXGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 



265 



kets, the rich alfalfa afeorcling the best kind of 
fodder for them. 

At J\Iesa we were hospitably entertained by Dr. 
A. J. Chandler in a beautiful mission structure 
called Chandler Court. Dr. Chandler is a pioneer 



M-^-M 


^' ''JR^^^^^^^^^^^^Ih^' 






•■ ■■•• -i 





ORANGE GROVE IN SALT RIVER VALLEY, NEAR PHOENIX. ARIZ. 



in this region and was one of the first to discover 
the fact that an immense amount of artesian water 
was to be had for the boring in this land that had 
hitherto been regarded as an almost irreclaimable 
desert. He put in several wells, and before the 



266 



A LITTLE JOUEXEY TO 



Government had begun its reclamation work he had 
several thousands of acres of alfalfa land bearing 
eight or more crops a year. 

FROM MESA TO ROOSEVELT DAM 

When the Government decided to undertake the 
damming of the Salt River and Tonto Creek, a place 




CANAL NEAR PHOENIX, ARIZ. SALT RIVER IRRIGATION PROJECT 



was found, just below where the two unite, where, 
through a rugged mountain pass, the waters flowed 
down to waste themselves upon the sands of the 
desert. To reach this place it was essential that a 
road should be constructed over which all the neces- 



. SOME STRANGE PLACES AND PEOPLES 267 

sary machinery and supplies could be hauled. The 
nearest shipping point was Mesa, and the dam site 
was sixty miles away. As we went over this road, a 
large amount of the labor on which was performed 
by Apache Indians, we well understood the problem 
it presented to the engineers. Over rugged mountain 
heights and down into canyon depths it wound its 
way, giving us new scenic delights at every turn, so 
that we were almost sorry when we arrived at 
the dam. 

This massive structure is of solid masonry, 235 
feet long at the river-bed, 680 feet on top ; thickness 
at the bottom, measured up and down stream, 168 
feet ; and 284 feet above the lowest foundations. The 
solid contents of the dam is 329,400 cubic yards. It is 
an arched dam with the arch upstream and a height 
of 220 feet actually covered by the water. The water- 
shed supplying the water is about 6,260 square miles 
in extent. This dam creates one of the largest arti- 
ficial lakes in the world, being about four miles wide 
by twenty-five miles long. Its capacity is ten times 
greater than the great Croton Reservoir, whicli sup- 
plies New York City with water. It contains far 
more water than is stored in the much vaunted 
Assouan Dam of the British on the Upper Nile. In 
fact, there is water enough stored there to cover the 
whole state of Delaware with water over a foot deep, 
or to fill a canal three hundred feet wide and nineteen 
feet deep, extending from Chicago to San Francisco. 

Returning to Mesa, the special part of our trip 
ended. We went on to Maricopa Junction, took the 
Southern Pacific Sunset Route train to El Paso, and 



2G8 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO 



thence to Chicago, where the most wonderful trip 
ever enjoyed by school children was brought to a close. 
In talking with our fellow student travelers since 
our return, we feel that we have all learned, in the 
most forceful manner possible, several important 




THE ROOSEVELT DAM, NEARING COMPLETION, ARIZONA 



lessons. These are : 1. That our country is immensely 
greater and more wonderful than we had hitherto 
dreamed. 2. That there are other civilizations than 
that of the so-called Anglo-Saxon, existing in this our 
country, side by side, and, therefore, that no one form 



SOME STKANGE PLACES AND rEOPLES 2G9 

of civilization is necessary for mankind. 3. That 
while we may teach the Mexicans and Indians many 
things, they likewise may teach ns many things tliat 
we can learn to our profit. 4. As we looked on the 
Roosevelt Dam and surveyed the land its waters were 
to reclaim, and thought of the happiness it would 
produce to so large a number of our citizens and tlieir 
families, we were compelled to realize the superiority 
of the works of peace over those of war. 5. We 
have learned that the vastnesses of Xature have 
aroused, awakened, brought into being, as it were, 
corresponding largenesses in our own souls, so that 
our lives henceforth can never be as small as they 
might have been had this wonderful and revealing 
trip not been provided for us. 



INDEX 



Page 

Acoma, N. Mex,, History of 100 

Acoma Trail, Tlie 97 

Adama and tlie Petrified Forest. . . 202 

Agua Fria Crater 164 

Albuquerque, N. Mex., The City of. 62 

Angel Plateau, The 243 

Believers in Witchcraft 196 

Buffalo Plains, The 40 

Chorus, The Indian 122 

Cliff and Cave Dwellings, Flag- 
staff, Ariz 23Q 

Cliff Dwellings, Puye, N. Mex 57 

Coming of St. James to Spain, The 110 

Crater, Agua Fria 164 

Distribution of the Gifts, The 123 

Don Manuel, The Story of 131 

El Moro Inscription Rock 171 

El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon. . . 245 

Enchanted Mesa, The 88 

Fiesta of San Esteban, The 113 

Fisher's Peak, Trinidad, Colo.... 8 

Flagstaff, Ariz 235 

Gallup, N. Mex *^01 

Glorieta Mountains 41 

Grand Canyon, Ariz 238 

Grand View Point 247 

Holbrook and Winslow 211 

Hopis and Their Snake Dance. . . . 214 

Indian Chorus, The 122 

Indian Cooking 79 

Indian A'illage of Zuni, The 178 

Inscription Rock 170 

Isleta, Pueblo of 68 

Katzimo or the Enchanted Mesa. . 88 

Katzimo, The Story of 90 

Laguna, Pueblo of 73 

Las Vegas, N. Mex 36 

Las Vegas Hot Springs 39 

Lava, Rivers of 162 

Lowell Observatory 235 

Maxwell Land Grant, The 33 

Maxwell, Lucien B., Experiences of 34 

Mesa to Roosevelt Dam, From. . . . 266 

Meteorite Mountain, The 212 

270 



Page 

Mountain Drive, A 46 

Mount San Mateo 137 

Navaho Blankets, Weaving of.... 149 

Navaho Indians, The 147 

New Mexico, University of 66 

Oraibi, Ariz 224 

Origin of the Navahoes, The 151 

Penitentes 21 

Petrified Bridge, Ariz., The 205 

Petrified Forest, Ariz., The 204 

Phoenix and the Salt River Valley 261 

Pueblo Ruins 55 

Quicksand. Caught in 221 

Rabbit-Hunt, A 69 

Raton, N. Mex 20 

Raton Pass. N. Mex IS 

Red Canyon Trail, The 254 

Roosevelt Dam, The 266 

Saint James to Spain, The Coming 

of 110 

Salt River Valley 261 

San Esteban, The Fiesta of 113 

San Mateo, N. Mex 135 

San Rafael, N. Mex 161 

Sand Storm, A Desert 233 

Santa Fe, N. Mex 49 

Santa Fe Trail, The Old 29 

Scenic Highway, The 43 

Simpson's Rest, Trinidad, Colo... 10 

Story of a "Civilized" Indian 118 

Summit of Mount San Mateo, The 141 

Uncle Dick Wooton 13 

U. S. Indian School. Albuquerque, 

N. Mex 67 

Water-Rock, N. Mex., A Historic. 128 

Wewa, a Zuni Indian 198 

Wheat-Threshing by n Laguna 

Indians 76 

Williams, Ariz 238 

Winslow, Holbrook and 211 

Witchcraft, Believers in 196 

Wooton, Uncle Dick 13 

Zuni, N. Mex., The Indian Village 

of 176 

Zuni Fetiches 61, 183 

Zuni Philosophy 183 



Books by George Wharton James 

HEROES OF CALIFORNIA. 515 pages, with eighty illustrations. $2.00 
lift; i)<)sti):iid, .-fi'J.IG. 

THE GRAND CANYON OF ARIZONA; HOW TO SEE IT. An entinly 
new and complete guide book. 'J65 pages, with nKi])s and 48 pag<"s of 
pictures. $1.50 net; postpaid, $1.63. 

IN AND AROUND THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO RIVER 
IN ARIZONA. :\rr. .Tames' original and instructive work on the Crrand 
Tanyon. 346 pages, with 2'.i full-page plates and 77 illustrations i:i 
the te.xt. Crown 8vo. $2.50 net; postpaid, $2.70. 

THE INDIANS OF THE PAINTED DESERT REGION. 268 pages, with 
16 full-i)age pictures and 50 half -page illustrations from photographs. 
Crown 8vo. $2.00 net; postpaid, $2.18. 

IN AND OUT OF THE OLD MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA. An Historical 
and Pictorial Account of the Franciscan Missions. The best book on 
the sub^'ect. 392 pages, with 142 illustrations from photographs show- 
ing the architecture, the interior decorations, furniture, pulpits, crosses 
and candlesticks of the Missions, pictures of the Saints, etc. Svo. 
$3.00 net; postpaid, $3.20. 

THE WONDERS OF THE COLORADO DESERT (Southern California). 
Its River and its Mountains, its Canyons and its Springs, its Life and 
its History pictured and described. The standard work on the Colorado 
Desert region. With a colored frontispiece, 32 full-page plates, and 
more than 300 pen and ink sketches by Carl Eytel. 8vo. $5.00 net; 
express paid, $5.45. 

THROUGH RAMONA'S COUNTRY. 406 pages. Fully illustrated from 
photographs. Crown 8vo. $2.00 net; postpaid, $2.20. 

THE STORY OF SCRAGGLES. An Autobiography of a Song Sparrow. Illus- 
trated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00 net; postpaid, $1.07. 

INDIAN BASKETRY. Third Edition* including "How to make Indian and 
Other Baskets." 412 pages. With 600 illustrations. Svo. Cloth, $2.50 
net; postpaid, $2.75. 

HOW TO MAKE INDIAN AND OTHER BASKETS. 140 pages. With 225 
illustrations. $1.00 net; postpaid, $1.15. 

TRAVELER'S HANDBOOK TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Baedeker size 
for pocket. 507 pages, with illustrations. 16mo. Cloth, $1.00; post- 
paid, $1.10. 

V^HAT THE WHITE RACE MAY LEARN FROM THE INDIAN. 269 pages. 
84 illustrations. Svo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50; postpaid, $1.75. 

CALIFORNIA BIRTHDAY BOOK. Selections from the writings of Living 
California Authors, with biographical sketch of each and lists of books. 
4110 pages. lOnio. Cloth, $1.00; postpaid, $1.10. 

AN APPRECIATION OF CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. With four 
selections. $1.00. 

For Sale by 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO, II. I,. 



I Cplofevclo 
Rpcl:ies 

Dozens of interesting places 
to visit — Pike's Peak, Estes 
Park, Colorado Springs, 
Manitou, Royal Gorge, Glen- 
wood Springs. Denver. 

Dozens of things to do — 
mountain climbing, trout 
fishing, bear hunting, golfing, 
polo and autoing ; or just 
saunter around and get 
tanned 

Two weeks in the cool, in- 
vigorating Colorado air will 
give you a new lease of life. 

Low-fare, round-trip ex- 
cursions all summer. 

You will enjoy reading ''A 
Colorado Summer.' 



Graiicl(^nyon 

y Arizone^. 

Miles wide, a mile deep, 
and painted like a sunset. En 
route visit the Indian pueblos 
of New Mexico and Arizona, 
and spend a day in the Pet- 
rified Forest of Arizona. 

El Tovar hotel, under 
management of Fred Harvey, 
looks after you when at the 
Grand Canyon. As much 
like a country club as a hotel 
can be. 

Stop off here on your way 
to California. A Pullman to 
the rim. 

You will enjoy reading 
"Titan of Chasms." 



S\iininerPiPiEXcviKioi\s 



lo>sett\iie 
Vklley 



Beyond a doubt the love- 
liest of mountain valleys. 

In the cool Sierras of Cali- 
fornia, a mile above the 
sea, rimmed by sheer cliffs, 
thousands of feet high. 

Can you imagine a more 
delightful vacation than 
camping among its giant 
redwoods ? 

Low-fare summer excur- 
sions. A side trip from the 
California Limited. 

You will enjoy reading 
•• Yosemite Valley." 



Write for our illustrated 
Summer travel books 

and train folders. 
W. J. Black. P. T. M. 
1119 Railway Exchange 



Gvli^rniev 
Seaslvore 



CHICAGO 



i|»-^ 



Bathe in the blue Pacific 
and try deep-sea fish'ng. 

Or perhaps you may enjoy 
golf, tennis or motoring more. 
California maintains miles of 
smooth, dustless roads. Mag- 
nificent resort hotels and 
comfortable "tent cities." 

It's cool along the coast 
all summer. 

Low-fare summer excur- 
sions. Ever try the California 
Limited ? 

You will enjoy reading 
" To California over the 
Santa Fe Trail." 



MAY 19 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
MAY ?5 19,1 



